Control system and semiconductor device

ABSTRACT

An object of the present invention is to control a vehicle with less delay. A control system  100  according to the present invention includes: an estimating unit  103  that estimates a factor and a required time until encountering the factor based on a result of an observation of a periphery of a vehicle; and a deciding unit  104  that decides control contents of the vehicle based on data stored in a first storage unit  101  when the required time is longer than a threshold and that decides control contents of the vehicle based on data stored in a second storage unit  102  which can be accessed at a higher speed than the first storage unit  101  when the required time is equal to or shorter than the threshold.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese patent application No. 2014-152815, filed on Jul. 28, 2014, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a control system and a semiconductordevice and relates to, for example, a technique for controlling avehicle.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-217692discloses a driving assistance device intended to perform accurate riskdetermination and output warning information. The driving assistancedevice recognizes various states such as positions and movement statesof peripheral objects based on output from various sensors. In addition,the driving assistance device estimates a collision risk between a hostvehicle and a peripheral object based on an equation of motion that isdesigned for each object type. Then, based on the various recognizedstates and the estimated collision risk, the driving assistance deviceestimates a risk factor that may occur in a current situation using arisk factor estimation table. The driving assistance device thendisplays warning information including a finally estimated risk factorand a collision risk. Accordingly, by notifying a driver of a riskfactor and the like, the driving assistance device can cause the driverto avoid colliding with peripheral objects in an appropriate manner.

SUMMARY

When some factor occurs with respect to a vehicle, the drivingassistance device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2009-217692 is capable of controlling the vehicle inaccordance with the factor. However, usefulness of the drivingassistance device can be improved if the driving assistance device isable to control a vehicle without delay in accordance with a factor thatoccurs with respect to the vehicle.

Other objects and novel features will become apparent with reference tothe following description and to the accompanying drawings.

According to an embodiment, a control system decides control contents ofa vehicle based on data stored in a first storage unit when a requiredtime until encountering a factor is longer than a threshold, and decidesthe control contents of the vehicle based on data stored in a secondstorage unit, which can be accessed at a higher speed than the firststorage unit, when the required time is equal to or shorter than thethreshold.

According to the embodiment described above, a vehicle can be controlledwith less delay.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, advantages and features will be moreapparent from the following description of certain embodiments taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a vehicle-mounted control systemaccording to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a vehicle control system accordingto the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of data according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the vehicle control systemaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an operation of the vehicle controlsystem according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing an operation of a vehicle control systemaccording to a second embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of data according to a thirdembodiment;

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of a vehicle control systemaccording to the third embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a learning method according to thethird embodiment;

FIG. 10A is a flow chart showing an operation of the vehicle controlsystem according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 10B is a flow chart showing an operation of the vehicle controlsystem according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of a vehicle control systemaccording to a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing an operation of the vehicle controlsystem according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing an operation of the vehicle controlsystem according to the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram of a vehicle control system accordingto a fifth embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a concept of action characteristicinformation management according to the fifth embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a functional block diagram of the vehicle control systemaccording to the fifth embodiment;

FIG. 17A is a flow chart showing an operation of the vehicle controlsystem according to the fifth embodiment;

FIG. 17B is a flow chart showing an operation of the vehicle controlsystem according to the fifth embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a flow chart showing an operation of the vehicle controlsystem according to the fifth embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a configuration diagram of a control system according to asixth embodiment; and

FIG. 20 is a configuration diagram of a vehicle-mounted control systemaccording to another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the drawings. It should be noted thatspecific numerical values and the like that are presented in thefollowing embodiments are simply examples intended to facilitateunderstanding of the invention and that the present invention is notlimited thereto unless otherwise stated. It should also be noted that,in the following description and in the drawings, matters obvious to aperson skilled in the art are omitted or simplified as appropriate forclarity in the description.

First Embodiment

First, a first embodiment will be described. A configuration of avehicle-mounted control system 1 according to the present firstembodiment will now be described with reference to FIG. 1. As shown inFIG. 1, the vehicle-mounted control system 1 includes an electroniccontrol unit (ECU) 10, a camera 11, a sensor 12, volatile storage means13, a communication module 14, a steering system 15, and a brake 16. Thevehicle-mounted control system 1 is a system that is mounted to anautomobile. Hereinafter, an automobile (vehicle) to which thevehicle-mounted control system 1 is mounted will also be referred to asa “host vehicle”.

The ECU 10 controls various units (the steering system, the brake, andthe like) of the host vehicle. In this case, the ECU 10 has a manualcontrol mode in which the host vehicle is controlled based on anoperation performed by a driver and an automatic control mode in whichthe host vehicle is automatically controlled independently of anoperation performed by the driver. In the automatic control mode, basedon information obtained from the camera 11 and the sensor 12, the ECU 10performs recognition of a state which the host vehicle is in, adetermination of control contents of the host vehicle in accordance withthe state, and control of the host vehicle.

The camera 11 is a device for capturing images of a periphery of thehost vehicle. By capturing an image of the periphery of the hostvehicle, the camera 11 generates image information indicating the imageof the periphery of the host vehicle and transmits the image informationto the ECU 10. In the present first embodiment, an example in which thecamera 11 captures an image within a prescribed angle range to the frontof the host vehicle will be described. In other words, as shown in FIG.1, the camera 11 is installed in the host vehicle so as to face thefront of the host vehicle.

The sensor 12 is a device for measuring a distance from the host vehicleto a peripheral object. For example, the sensor 12 measures a distancefrom the host vehicle to a peripheral object using electromagnetic wavessuch as light waves (for example, including infrared light) and radiowaves (for example, including millimeter waves). The sensor 12 generatesdistance information indicating a measured distance to the peripheralobject and transmits the distance information to the ECU 10. In thepresent first embodiment, an example in which the sensor 12 measures adistance to an object present to the front of the host vehicle will bedescribed. In other words, as shown in FIG. 1, the sensor 12 isinstalled in the host vehicle so as to face the front of the hostvehicle.

Information used by the ECU 10 to execute processes and a programincluding instructions that cause the ECU 10 to execute the processesare stored in the volatile storage means 13. By executing the programstored in the volatile storage means 13, the ECU 10 realizes theprocesses according to the present first embodiment. The volatilestorage means 13 is volatile storage means for retaining informationwhile an ignition power supply of the host vehicle is switched on andpower is being supplied and which loses retained information when theignition power supply of the host vehicle is switched off and power isno longer supplied. The volatile storage means 13 is configured so as toinclude, for example, at least one volatile memory. Moreover, actioncharacteristic information which is used to control the host vehicle andwhich is one of the types of information stored in the volatile storagemeans 13 will be described later.

The communication module 14 transmits information transmitted from theECU 10 to outside of the vehicle-mounted control system 1 using a radiosignal. In addition, the communication module 14 receives a radio signalfrom the outside of the vehicle-mounted control system 1 and transmitsinformation indicated by the radio signal to the ECU 10. A signal basedon an arbitrary radio communication standard may be used as the radiosignal. For example, a signal based on mobile communication may be usedas the radio signal.

The steering system 15 changes a steering angle of tires of the hostvehicle in accordance with an instruction from the ECU 10. Aneffectiveness of the brake 16 is adjusted in accordance with aninstruction from the ECU 10.

Next, a configuration of a vehicle control system 2 according to thefirst embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2. As shown inFIG. 2, the vehicle control system 2 includes the vehicle-mountedcontrol system 1 and a data management system 3. While thevehicle-mounted control system 1 includes the respective devices 10 to16 described above, FIG. 2 further shows a configuration of the ECU 10in greater detail.

The ECU 10 includes a recognition micro control unit (MCU) 20, adetermination MCU 21, control MCUs 22 and 23, and a communication MCU24. The respective MCUs 20 to 24 are connected to one another via a busto be capable of transmitting and receiving information to and from oneanother. In addition, the respective MCUs 20 to 24 are connected to therespective devices 10 to 16 via a dedicated bus.

The recognition MCU 20 recognizes a state of the host vehicle based onimage information received from the camera 11 and distance informationreceived from the sensor 12. More specifically, for example, therecognition MCU 20 recognizes an object present in a periphery of thehost vehicle as a state of the host vehicle. For example, with respectto an object present in the periphery of the host vehicle, therecognition MCU 20 recognizes a position thereof, whether or not theobject is traveling, a travel direction and a travel speed thereof, andthe like. In addition, the recognition MCU 20 transmits recognitionresult information indicating a recognized state to the determinationMCU 21.

The determination MCU 21 estimates a factor that occurs with respect tothe host vehicle based on recognition result information received fromthe recognition MCU 20. A factor that occurs with respect to the hostvehicle represents a presence of an object (a pedestrian, an obstacle,and the like) for which a necessity of evasion by the host vehicle mayarise. Hereinafter, a factor estimated by the determination MCU 21 willalso be referred to as an “estimated factor”. In addition, thedetermination MCU 21 calculates a time until the host vehicle faces asituation where an origin (object) of the factor is reached when adecision is made to continue traveling. Hereinafter, a time calculatedby the determination MCU 21 will also be referred to as an “estimatedtime”. The determination MCU 21 performs control to retrieve, from thevolatile storage means 13, action characteristic information indicatingan action to be taken by the host vehicle with respect to an estimatedfactor in consideration of an estimated time. While actioncharacteristic information is stored in plurality in the volatilestorage means 13 in this manner, the action characteristic informationwill be described later. Typically, the determination MCU 21 includesthe volatile storage means 13.

The control MCUs 22 and 23 select action characteristic informationindicating action that is favorably taken by the host vehicle withrespect to an estimated factor according to prescribed criteria fromaction characteristic information obtained by the control performed bythe determination MCU 21. The control MCUs 22 and 23 control the hostvehicle based on the selected action characteristic information.Accordingly, control based on the action characteristic information isperformed on at least one of the steering system 15 and the brake 16.

The communication MCU 24 transmits and receives information to and fromthe data management system 3 via the communication module 14. Typically,the communication MCU 24 includes the communication module 14. Thecommunication MCU 24 transmits information received from the other MCUs20 to 23 to the data management system 3 via the communication module14. The communication MCU 24 transmits information received from thedata management system 3 via the communication module 14 to the otherMCUs 20 to 23.

The data management system 3 includes non-volatile storage means 30, acommunication module 31, an action information management server 40, adata server 41, and a communication MCU 42.

The non-volatile storage means 30 stores a plurality of pieces of actioncharacteristic information. The non-volatile storage means 30 isnon-volatile storage means capable of retaining information regardlessof whether power is being supplied or not. For example, the non-volatilestorage means 30 is configured so as to include at least onenon-volatile memory or at least one hard disk, or a combination thereof.

The communication module 31 transmits information from the communicationMCU 42 to outside of the data management system 3 using a radio signal.In addition, the communication module 31 receives a radio signal fromthe outside of the data management system 3 and transmits informationindicated by the radio signal to the communication MCU 42. As the radiosignal, a signal based on an arbitrary radio communication standard maybe used in a similar manner as the radio signal described earlier.

The action information management server 40 is an information processingdevice that manages action characteristic information. In this case,when retrieving action characteristic information from the non-volatilestorage means 30, the determination MCU 21 transmits request informationfor requesting retrieval of action characteristic information to thedata management system 3 via the communication module 14. The actioninformation management server 40 receives the request informationtransmitted from the determination MCU 21 via the communication module31. The action information management server 40 transmits instructioninformation for instructing retrieval of action characteristicinformation to the data server 41 in accordance with the requestinformation. The action information management server 40 transmits theaction characteristic information obtained by retrieval performed by thedata server 41 to the vehicle-mounted control system 1 via thecommunication module 31.

The data server 41 is an information processing device that retainsinformation used by the vehicle-mounted control system 1. In otherwords, the data server 41 includes the non-volatile storage means 30.The data server 41 retrieves desired action characteristic informationand provides the action information management server 40 with the actioncharacteristic information in accordance with instruction informationfrom the action information management server 40.

The communication MCU 42 transmits and receives information to and fromthe vehicle-mounted control system 1 via the communication module 31.Typically, the communication MCU 42 includes the communication module31. The communication MCU 42 transmits information received from theaction information management server 40 and the data server 41 to thevehicle-mounted control system 1 via the communication module 31. Thecommunication MCU 42 transmits information received from thevehicle-mounted control system 1 via the communication module 31 to theaction information management server 40 and the data server 41.

For example, when radio signals transmitted and received between thecommunication module 14 and the communication module 31 are based onmobile communication, typically, a base station includes thecommunication MCU 42 and the communication module 31. In this case, thebase station, the action information management server 40, and the dataserver 41 are connected to one another via a network (for example, amobile communication network or the Internet) to be capable oftransmitting and receiving information to and from one another.

As described above, when transmitting and receiving information betweenthe respective MCUs 20 to 23 in the vehicle-mounted control system 1 andthe respective servers 40 and 41 in the data management system 3,information is transmitted and received via the communication MCU 24,the communication module 14, the communication module 31, and thecommunication MCU 42.

Next, an example of data stored in the volatile storage means 13 and thenon-volatile storage means 30 will be described with reference to FIG.3. As illustrated in FIG. 3, in addition to an “action” that correspondsto action characteristic information described earlier, data stored inthe volatile storage means 13 and the non-volatile storage means 30includes information indicating an “ID”, a “time until facingsituation”, a “factor”, and a “priority” as associated information.

An “ID” is information that uniquely identifies data. While an examplewill be described in which an “ID” is expressed by an integer in thepresent first embodiment, an “ID” is not limited to an integer. Forexample, an “ID” may be expressed by a numerical value other than aninteger.

A “time until facing situation” is a time until the host vehicle reachesan origin of a “factor” when the host vehicle continues traveling.

A “factor” represents a factor that occurs with respect to the hostvehicle (a presence of an object for which a necessity of evasion by thehost vehicle may arise). Examples of an origin (object) of a “factor”include a pedestrian and obstacles other than a pedestrian (such as autility pole, a pole, a tree, a fence, a difference in level, and anautomobile).

A “priority” represents a degree to which an “action” is to bepreferentially selected with respect to a “factor”. By selecting an“action” with a higher “priority” with respect to the same “factor”, anorigin of the “factor” can be evaded even in a state that is assumed byan “action” with a lower “priority”. In other words, a “priority”corresponds to a degree of evading the origin of the “factor”.Therefore, an “action” with a higher “priority” is preferentiallyselected as an action to be taken with respect to an estimated factor.For example, the “priority” of an “action” representing control contentsinvolving stopping before reaching the origin of the “factor” (a “stop”to be described later) is set higher than that of an “action”representing control contents involving detouring the origin of the“factor” and continuing traveling by changing a travel route of the hostvehicle before reaching the origin of the “factor” (a “detour” to bedescribed later).

Moreover, while an example will be described in which a “priority” isexpressed by an integer in the present first embodiment, a “priority” isnot limited to an integer. For example, a “priority” may be expressed bya numerical value other than an integer. In addition, while an examplewill be described in which a higher “priority” is expressed by a greaternumerical value, a “priority” is not limited to this example. Forexample, a higher “priority” may be expressed by a smaller numericalvalue. For example, a “priority” is set using at least one of thecriteria described below.

(1) When an origin of a “factor” is an object capable of travel (forexample, a pedestrian and an automobile), a “priority” of an “action”that assumes a traveling object is set higher than a “priority” of an“action” that assumes an object that is not traveling.

(2) When an origin of a “factor” is an object capable of travel, a“priority” of an “action” that assumes an object traveling toward thehost vehicle is set higher than a “priority” of an “action” that assumesan object traveling away from the host vehicle.

(3) When an origin of a “factor” is a difference in level, a “priority”of a difference in level which cannot be negotiated by the host vehicleis set higher than a “priority” of a difference in level which can benegotiated by the host vehicle.

(4) When an origin of a “factor” is a pedestrian, a “priority” of an“action” which assumes that the pedestrian is a child is set higher thana “priority” of an “action” which assumes that the pedestrian is anadult.

An “action” represents control contents to be taken by the host vehiclewith respect to a “factor”. By controlling the host vehicle according tothe control contents represented by an “action”, the host vehicle can becontrolled so that the host vehicle evades an origin of the “factor”before a “time until facing situation”. In other words, an “action”represents control contents that can be executed and completed beforethe “time until facing situation” lapses.

Next, respective pieces of data shown in FIG. 3 will be described. Thedata with an “ID” of “1” assumes a case where a “pedestrian” is presentas an origin of a “factor” at a point when the host vehicle reaches alocation which can be reached in “3 seconds” that is the “time untilfacing situation”. In addition, the data assumes a case where the“pedestrian” that is the origin of the “factor” is traveling in adirection approaching the host vehicle. Therefore, as an “action”, thedata indicates a “stop (sudden)” with control contents involvingstopping the host vehicle before reaching the “pedestrian” by stoppingthe host vehicle before “3 seconds” lapse. A “priority” is set to 10.

The data with an “ID” of “2” assumes a case where a “pedestrian” ispresent as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the host vehiclereaches a location which can be reached in “5 seconds” that is the “timeuntil facing situation”. In addition, the data assumes a case where the“pedestrian” that is the origin of the “factor” is traveling in adirection approaching the host vehicle. Therefore, as an “action”, thedata indicates a “stop (normal)” with control contents involvingstopping the host vehicle before “5 seconds” lapse. In other words, a“stop (normal)” represents control contents involving stopping the hostvehicle before reaching the “pedestrian” by stopping the host vehiclemore gradually than the “stop (sudden)” described above. Since the dataassumes a case where a “pedestrian” is traveling in a directionapproaching the host vehicle in a similar manner to the data with an“ID” of “1”, a “priority” of “10” is similarly set.

The data with an “ID” of “3” assumes a case where a “pedestrian” ispresent as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the host vehiclereaches a location which can be reached in “7 seconds” that is the “timeuntil facing situation”. In addition, the data assumes a case where the“pedestrian” that is the origin of the “factor” is traveling in adirection approaching the host vehicle. Therefore, as an “action”, thedata indicates a “stop (slow)” with control contents involving stoppingthe host vehicle before reaching the “pedestrian” by stopping the hostvehicle before “7 seconds” lapse. In other words, a “stop (slow)”represents control contents involving stopping the host vehicle moregradually than the “stop (normal)” described above. Since the dataassumes a case where a “pedestrian” is traveling in a directionapproaching the host vehicle in a similar manner to the data with an“ID” of “1”, a “priority” of “10” is similarly set.

The data with an “ID” of “4” assumes a case where a “pedestrian” ispresent as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the host vehiclereaches a location which can be reached in “3 seconds” that is the “timeuntil facing situation”. In addition, the data assumes a case where the“pedestrian” that is the origin of the “factor” is not traveling.Therefore, as an “action”, the data indicates a “detour (sudden)” withcontrol contents involving detouring the “pedestrian” and continuingtraveling by changing a travel route of the host vehicle before “3seconds” lapse. Since the data assumes a case where a “pedestrian” isnot traveling which differs from a case where the “pedestrian” istraveling as in the case of the data with an “ID” of “1”, a “priority”of “6” that is lower than the “priority” of “10” in the case of the datawith an “ID” of “1” is set.

The data with an “ID” of “5” assumes a similar situation as the datawith an “ID” of “4”. Therefore, a “time until facing situation” is “3seconds”, an origin of a “factor” is a “pedestrian”, a “priority” is“6”, and an “action” is “detour (sudden)”. However, strictly speaking,there is a slight difference in the control contents of the host vehiclethat are represented by the “action”. Obviously, the “action” generallyrepresents control contents involving detouring the “pedestrian” andcontinuing traveling by changing a travel route of the host vehiclebefore “3 seconds” lapse. In this manner, options may be provided evenwith respect to the same situation.

The data with an “ID” of “6” assumes a case where a “pedestrian” ispresent as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the host vehiclereaches a location which can be reached in “5 seconds” that is the “timeuntil facing situation”. In addition, the data assumes a case where the“pedestrian” that is the origin of the “factor” is not traveling.Therefore, as an “action”, the data indicates a “detour (normal)” withcontrol contents involving detouring the “pedestrian” and continuingtraveling by changing a travel route of the host vehicle before “5seconds” lapse. In other words, the “detour (normal)” represents controlcontents involving changing the travel route of the host vehicle moregradually than the “detour (sudden)” described above. Since the dataassumes a case where a “pedestrian” is not traveling in a similar mannerto the data with an “ID” of “4”, a “priority” of “6” is similarly set.

The data with an “ID” of “7” assumes a similar situation as the datawith an “ID” of “6”. Therefore, a “time until facing situation” is “5seconds”, an origin of a “factor” is a “pedestrian”, a “priority” is“6”, and an “action” is “detour (normal)”. However, strictly speaking,there is a slight difference in the control contents of the host vehiclethat are represented by the “action”. Obviously, the “action” generallyrepresents control contents involving detouring the “pedestrian” andcontinuing traveling by changing a travel route of the host vehiclebefore “7 seconds” lapse. This is similar in intent to the data with an“ID” of “5”.

The data with an “ID” of “8” assumes a case where a “pedestrian” ispresent as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the host vehiclereaches a location which can be reached in “7 seconds” that is the “timeuntil facing situation”. In addition, the data assumes a case where the“pedestrian” that is the origin of the “factor” is not traveling.Therefore, as an “action”, the data indicates a “detour (slow)” withcontrol contents involving detouring the “pedestrian” and continuingtraveling by changing a travel route of the host vehicle before “7seconds” lapse. In other words, the “detour (slow)” represents controlcontents involving changing the travel route of the host vehicle moregradually than the “detour (normal)” described above. Since the dataassumes a case where a “pedestrian” is not traveling in a similar mannerto the data with an “ID” of “4”, a “priority” of “6” is similarly set.

The data with an “ID” of “9” assumes a similar situation as the datawith an “ID” of “8”. Therefore, a “time until facing situation” is “7seconds”, an origin of a “factor” is a “pedestrian”, a “priority” is“6”, and an “action” is “detour (slow)”. However, strictly speaking,there is a slight difference in the control contents of the host vehiclethat are represented by the “action”. Obviously, the “action” generallyrepresents control contents involving detouring the “pedestrian” andcontinuing traveling by changing a travel route of the host vehiclebefore “7 seconds” lapse. This is similar in intent to the data with an“ID” of “5”.

The data with an “ID” of “10” assumes a case where an “installation” ispresent as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the host vehiclereaches a location which can be reached in “3 seconds” that is the “timeuntil facing situation”. An “installation” refers to an object that isincapable of traveling among obstacles. Therefore, as an “action”, thedata indicates a “detour (sudden)” with control contents involvingdetouring the “installation” and continuing traveling by changing atravel route of the host vehicle before “3 seconds” lapse. A “priority”is set to 6.

The data with an “ID” of “11” assumes a case where an “installation” ispresent as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the host vehiclereaches a location which can be reached in “5 seconds” that is the “timeuntil facing situation”. Therefore, as an “action”, a “detour (normal)”is set which involves detouring the “installation” and continuingtraveling by changing a travel route of the host vehicle before “5seconds” lapse. Since the data assumes an “installation” in a similarmanner to the data with an “ID” of “10”, a “priority” of “6” issimilarly set.

The data with an “ID” of “12” assumes a case where an “installation” ispresent as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the host vehiclereaches a location which can be reached in “10 seconds” that is the“time until facing situation”. Therefore, as an “action”, a “detour(slow)” is set which involves detouring the “installation” andcontinuing traveling by changing a travel route of the host vehiclebefore “7 seconds” lapse. Since the data assumes an “installation” in asimilar manner to the data with an “ID” of “10”, a “priority” of “6” issimilarly set.

The data with an “ID” of “13” assumes a case where a “difference inlevel” is present as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the hostvehicle reaches a location which can be reached in “5 seconds” that isthe “time until facing situation”. In addition, the data assumes a casewhere the “difference in level” that is the origin of the “factor” has aheight that cannot be negotiated by the host vehicle. Therefore, as an“action”, the data indicates a “detour (normal)” which involvesdetouring the “difference in level” and continuing traveling by changinga travel route of the host vehicle before “5 seconds” lapse. A“priority” is set to 6.

The data with an “ID” of “14” assumes a case where a “difference inlevel” is present as an origin of a “factor” at a point when the hostvehicle reaches a location which can be reached in “5 seconds” that isthe “time until facing situation”. In addition, the data assumes a casewhere the “difference in level” that is the origin of the “factor” has aheight that can be negotiated by the host vehicle. Therefore, as an“action”, the data indicates a “deceleration” with control contentsinvolving decelerating the host vehicle and continuing traveling before“5 seconds” lapse. Since the data assumes a case where a “difference inlevel” has a height that can be negotiated by the host vehicle whichdiffers from a case where the “difference in level” has a height thatcannot be negotiated by the host vehicle as in the case of the data withan “ID” of “13”, a “priority” of “2” that is lower than the “priority”of “6” in the case of the data with an “ID” of “13” is set.

Hereinafter, in the present first embodiment, a description will begiven on the assumption that the plurality of pieces of data shown inFIG. 3 are stored in advance in the non-volatile storage means 30. Inthis case, the volatile storage means 13 and the non-volatile storagemeans 30 respectively store a plurality of pieces of data. Compared tothe non-volatile storage means 30, the volatile storage means 13 enablesdata to be accessed from the ECU 10 at a higher speed but the number ofpieces of data that can be retained is smaller. On the other hand,compared to the volatile storage means 13, data in the non-volatilestorage means 30 can only be accessed by the ECU 10 at a lower speed butthe non-volatile storage means 30 is capable of retaining a greaternumber of pieces of data. In other words, a capacity of the volatilestorage means 13 is too small to store all of the data that is stored inthe non-volatile storage means 30. Therefore, several pieces of dataamong the plurality of pieces of data stored in the non-volatile storagemeans 30 are to be selectively stored in the volatile storage means 13.

Next, functional blocks of the vehicle control system 2 according to thefirst embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4. As shown inFIG. 4, the vehicle control system 2 according to the first embodimentincludes a state recognizing unit 50, a situation estimating unit 51, anaction acquiring unit 52, and an output control unit 53.

The state recognizing unit 50 recognizes a state which the host vehicleis in based on image information received from the camera 11 anddistance information received from the sensor 12. In other words, thestate recognizing unit 50 recognizes objects present in a periphery ofthe host vehicle as described earlier. For example, the recognition MCU20 functions as the state recognizing unit 50.

The situation estimating unit 51 calculates the estimated factordescribed earlier based on the state which the host vehicle is in asrecognized by the state recognizing unit 50. In addition, the situationestimating unit 51 calculates the estimated time described earlier. Inthis case, for example, the situation estimating unit 51 decides afactor that is encountered first by the host vehicle along a travelroute of the host vehicle as calculated in the automatic control mode asthe estimated factor. In addition, for example, the situation estimatingunit 51 calculates an estimated time based on a distance to an origin ofthe estimated factor and a speed of the host vehicle. The situationestimating unit 51 calculates the estimated time by dividing thedistance to the origin of the factor by the speed of the host vehicle.The speed of the host vehicle may be acquired by an arbitrary method.For example, the situation estimating unit 51 may acquire angleinformation indicating a rotation angle of an axle from an axle sensor(not shown) of the host vehicle and calculate the speed of the hostvehicle based on a change in the rotation angle as indicated by theacquired angle information. Alternatively, the situation estimating unit51 may acquire acceleration information indicating an acceleration ofthe host vehicle from an acceleration sensor (not shown) of the hostvehicle and calculate the speed of the host vehicle by integrating theacceleration indicated by the acquired acceleration information. Forexample, the determination MCU 21 functions as the situation estimatingunit 51.

The action acquiring unit 52 retrieves and acquires actioncharacteristic information indicating an action to be taken by the hostvehicle with respect to the estimated factor calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 from the volatile storage means 13 or thenon-volatile storage means 30. For example, the determination MCU 21,the control MCUs 22 and 23, the action information management server 40,and the data server 41 function as the action acquiring unit 52.

In this case, the action acquiring unit 52 uses the volatile storagemeans 13 and the non-volatile storage means 30 in a discriminatingmanner as an acquisition source of the action characteristic informationdepending on whether or not the estimated time calculated by thesituation estimating unit 51 is equal to or shorter than a threshold t1.The threshold t1 is a time arbitrarily set in advance. In addition, whenacquiring action characteristic information from the non-volatilestorage means 30, the action acquiring unit 52 stores the actioncharacteristic information in the volatile storage means 13.

The output control unit 53 selects optimal action characteristicinformation according to prescribed criteria from action characteristicinformation acquired as a result of the retrieval by the actionacquiring unit 52. The output control unit 53 controls the host vehiclebased on the selected action characteristic information. For example,the control MCU 22 functions as the output control unit 53.

Acquisition of action characteristic information by the action acquiringunit 52 from the volatile storage means 13 or the non-volatile storagemeans 30 is performed by any one of methods (1) and (2) described below.

(1) In a first method, the determination MCU 21 acquires actioncharacteristic information by retrieving action characteristicinformation from any one of the volatile storage means 13 and thenon-volatile storage means 30.

When the estimated time is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1,the determination MCU 21 retrieves data with a “factor” that isconsistent with the estimated factor from the volatile storage means 13.Subsequently, the determination MCU 21 transmits the data acquired bythe retrieval to the control MCUs 22 and 23.

On the other hand, when the estimated time is longer than the thresholdt1, the determination MCU 21 transmits, to the action informationmanagement server 40, request information for requesting data with a“factor” that is consistent with the estimated factor to be retrievedfrom the non-volatile storage means 30. In response to the requestinformation from the determination MCU 21 via the communication MCU 24,the action information management server 40 transmits instructioninformation for instructing the retrieval requested by the requestinformation to the data server 41. In accordance with the instructioninformation from the action information management server 40, the dataserver 41 retrieves data instructed by the instruction information fromthe non-volatile storage means 30. In other words, the data server 41retrieves data with a “factor” that is consistent with the estimatedfactor from the non-volatile storage means 30. The estimated factor maybe made recognizable by the data server 41 by having the requestinformation and the instruction information include informationindicating the estimated factor. The data server 41 transmits the dataobtained by the retrieval to the action information management server40. The action information management server 40 transmits the datareceived from the data server 41 to the control MCUs 22 and 23.

Therefore, the control MCUs 22 and 23 receive data from any one of thedetermination MCU 21 and the action information management server 40.The control MCUs 22 and 23 acquire action characteristic informationincluded in the received data as a candidate for action characteristicinformation to be selected and utilized to control the host vehicle.

(2) In a second method, the determination MCU 21 retrieves actioncharacteristic information from both the volatile storage means 13 andthe non-volatile storage means 30 and the control MCUs 22 and 23 acquireany one of the action characteristic information obtained by retrievalfrom the volatile storage means 13 and the action characteristicinformation obtained by retrieval from the non-volatile storage means30.

The determination MCU 21 retrieves data from the volatile storage means13 in a similar manner to the first method described above regardless ofwhether or not the estimated time is equal to or shorter than thethreshold t1. Subsequently, the determination MCU 21 transmits the dataacquired by the retrieval to the control MCUs 22 and 23.

In addition, the determination MCU 21 transmits request information forrequesting data to be retrieved to the action information managementserver 40 in a similar manner to the first method described aboveregardless of whether or not the estimated time is equal to or shorterthan the threshold t1. Accordingly, in a similar manner to thedescription given earlier, the data server 41 performs retrieval of dataand the action information management server 40 transmits data obtainedas a retrieval result from the data server 41 to the control MCUs 22 and23.

The determination MCU 21 transmits estimated time information indicatingan estimated time to the control MCUs 22 and 23. When the estimated timeindicated by the estimated time information received from thedetermination MCU 21 is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1, thecontrol MCUs 22 and 23 acquire data obtained by the retrieval from thevolatile storage means 13 as a candidate for action characteristicinformation to be selected and utilized to control the host vehicle. Inother words, the control MCUs 22 and 23 do not acquire actioncharacteristic information included in the data received from the actioninformation management server 40 as a candidate for actioncharacteristic information to be selected and utilized to control thehost vehicle but acquire action characteristic information included inthe data received from the determination MCU 21 as a candidate foraction characteristic information to be selected and utilized to controlthe host vehicle. On the other hand, when the estimated time indicatedby the estimated time information received from the determination MCU 21is longer than the threshold t1, the control MCUs 22 and 23 acquireaction characteristic information included in data obtained by theretrieval from the non-volatile storage means 30 as a candidate foraction characteristic information to be selected and utilized to controlthe host vehicle. In other words, the control MCUs 22 and 23 do notacquire action characteristic information included in the data receivedfrom the determination MCU 21 as a candidate for action characteristicinformation to be selected and utilized to control the host vehicle butacquire action characteristic information included in the data receivedfrom the action information management server 40 as a candidate foraction characteristic information to be selected and utilized to controlthe host vehicle.

In this manner, in the present first embodiment, when a time untilencountering a factor to be evaded by the host vehicle is short, actioncharacteristic information is acquired from the volatile storage means13 which requires only a short time to retrieve action characteristicinformation. On the other hand, when a time until encountering a factorto be evaded by the host vehicle is long, action characteristicinformation is acquired from the non-volatile storage means 30 whichrequires a longer time to retrieve action characteristic information butwhich enables a larger number of pieces of action characteristicinformation to be retrieved. Accordingly, even when a time untilencountering a factor to be evaded by the host vehicle is short, a bestpossible action to be taken by the host vehicle can be decided whilemaking the decision without delay before the host vehicle reaches thefactor. In addition, when a time until encountering a factor to beevaded by the host vehicle is long, a best possible action to be takenby the host vehicle can be decided from a larger number of actions whileobviously making the decision without delay before the host vehiclereaches the factor. Therefore, an action that is suitable for a factorthat has occurred with respect to the vehicle can be decided withoutdelay.

In this case, from the perspective of reducing communication traffic,the first method is favorably used rather than the second method.According to the first method, when the estimated time is longer thanthe threshold t1 and there is not enough time to acquire actioncharacteristic information from the non-volatile storage means 30,action characteristic information is only retrieved from the volatilestorage means 13 and retrieval of action characteristic information fromthe action information management server 40 is not performed. As aresult, reception of unnecessary action characteristic information fromthe data management system 3 by the control MCUs 22 and 23 can beeliminated and communication traffic can be reduced.

Next, an operation of the vehicle control system 2 according to thepresent first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 5. Inthis case, prior to the operation described below, the vehicle-mountedcontrol system 1 selectively acquires several pieces of data from thedata management system 3 among a plurality of pieces of data stored inthe non-volatile storage means 30 and stores the acquired data in thevolatile storage means 13.

The action acquiring unit 52 acquires data to be stored in the volatilestorage means 13 in an initial state from the non-volatile storage means30 when an ignition power supply of the host vehicle is switched on andpower is supplied to the ECU 10 to make the ECU 10 operable. The actionacquiring unit 52 stores the acquired data in the volatile storage means13.

More specifically, when an ignition power supply of the host vehicle isswitched on and power is supplied to the ECU 10 to make the ECU 10operable, the determination MCU 21 transmits request information forrequesting transmission of data to be stored in the volatile storagemeans 13 in an initial state to the action information management server40. In response to the request information from the determination MCU21, the action information management server 40 transmits instructioninformation for instructing acquisition of data to be stored in thevolatile storage means 13 in an initial state to the data server 41.

In accordance with the instruction information from the actioninformation management server 40, the data server 41 acquires data to bestored in the volatile storage means 13 in an initial state andtransmits the acquired data to the action information management server40. At this point, the data server 41 acquires at least one piece ofdata for each “factor”. In addition, the data server 41 acquires as manypieces of data as can be stored in the volatile storage means 13 in anascending order of a “time until facing situation” that is included inthe data. The action information management server 40 transmits the datareceived from the data server 41 to the determination MCU 21. Thedetermination MCU 21 stores the data received from the actioninformation management server 40 in the volatile storage means 13.

Subsequently, when operating in the automatic control mode, thevehicle-mounted control system 1 executes an operation described below.For example, the vehicle-mounted control system 1 executes the operationdescribed below at prescribed constant intervals.

The state recognizing unit 50 acquires image information from the camera11 and acquires distance information from the sensor 12. Based on theacquired image information and distance information, the staterecognizing unit 50 recognizes a state which the host vehicle is in(S1). More specifically, as described earlier, the recognition MCU 20recognizes a state which the host vehicle is in based on the imageinformation and the distance information.

Based on the state which the host vehicle is in as recognized by thestate recognizing unit 50, the situation estimating unit 51 estimates afactor occurring with respect to the host vehicle and a time until thehost vehicle faces a situation where the host vehicle reaches an originof the factor (S2). The factor and the time that are estimated at thispoint are to be used as the estimated factor and the estimated timedescribed earlier. More specifically, as described earlier, based on theimage information and the distance information, the determination MCU 21estimates a factor occurring with respect to the host vehicle based onrecognition result information received from the recognition MCU 20.

The action acquiring unit 52 and the output control unit 53 startretrieving a best possible action from the volatile storage means 13 orthe non-volatile storage means 30 (S3). In other words, retrieval ofaction characteristic information according to the first method or thesecond method described earlier is started.

When the estimated time calculated by the situation estimating unit 51is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1 (yes in S4), the actionacquiring unit 52 acquires action characteristic informationcorresponding to the estimated factor calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 from the volatile storage means 13. The outputcontrol unit 53 selects an action which can be executed within theestimated time and which has a highest priority e1 among actionsindicated by the action characteristic information acquired from thevolatile storage means 13 by the action acquiring unit 52 (S5).

On the other hand, when the estimated time calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 is longer than the threshold t1 (no in S4), theaction acquiring unit 52 acquires action characteristic informationcorresponding to the estimated factor calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 from the non-volatile storage means 30. The outputcontrol unit 53 selects an action which can be executed within theestimated time calculated by the situation estimating unit 51 and whichhas a highest priority e1 among actions indicated by the actioncharacteristic information acquired from the non-volatile storage means30 by the action acquiring unit 52 (S6).

At this point, more specifically, a selection of an action which can beexecuted within the estimated time calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 and which has a highest priority is performed asdescribed below.

The determination MCU 21 transmits estimated time information indicatingan estimated time to the control MCUs 22 and 23. Meanwhile, the controlMCUs 22 and 23 have acquired data that indicate the estimated factor asa “factor” from the determination MCU 21 or the action informationmanagement server 40 as described earlier. The control MCUs 22 and 23select an “action” indicated by data with a highest “priority” amongacquired data indicating a “time until facing situation” that is equalto or shorter than an estimated time indicated by the estimated timeinformation from the determination MCU 21.

In addition, when an action is selected from the non-volatile storagemeans 30 (S6), the output control unit 53 determines whether or not a“time until facing situation” indicated by the data including the actioncharacteristic information indicating the selected action is equal to orshorter than the threshold t1 (S7). Moreover, the threshold t1 in stepS4 and the threshold t1 in step S7 have the same value. When the outputcontrol unit 53 determines that the “time until facing situation” isequal to or shorter than the threshold t1 (yes in S7), the outputcontrol unit 53 instructs the action acquiring unit 52 to performreplacement with the data including the action characteristicinformation indicating the selected action. The action acquiring unit 52replaces one piece of arbitrary selected data among the plurality ofpieces of data stored in the volatile storage means 13 with the dataincluding the action characteristic information selected by the outputcontrol unit 53 (S8).

More specifically, the control MCUs 22 and 23 transmit data includingthe action characteristic information indicating the selected action tothe determination MCU 21. The determination MCU 21 replaces one piece ofarbitrary selected data among the plurality of pieces of data stored inthe volatile storage means 13 with the data transmitted from the controlMCUs 22 and 23. Moreover, obviously, only one piece of data is to bereplaced regardless of whether both control MCUs 22 and 23 are totransmit data or any one of the control MCUs 22 and 23 is to transmitdata. Simply put, overlapping of requests for data replacement can beavoided by having only one control MCU determined in advance among thecontrol MCUs 22 and 23 transmit data. In addition, an arbitrary methodmay be used as a method of selecting data to be a replacement targetamong the plurality of pieces of data stored in the volatile storagemeans 13. For example, data to be a replacement target may be randomlydecided.

At this point, favorably, the determination MCU 21 decides data to be areplacement target so that at least data with a shortest “time untilfacing situation” is retained for each “factor”. Accordingly, since aworst case action can be retained in the volatile storage means 13 foreach factor that may occur to the host vehicle, any situation can beaccommodated. However, this method is not restrictive as long as safetycan be guaranteed. For example, as an alternative method, when data witha “time until facing situation” that is equal to or shorter than theestimated time indicated by the estimated time information cannot befound, the control MCUs 22 and 23 may perform, in a fixed manner, ashortest action (for example, stopping in a shortest amount of time)that can be performed by the host vehicle.

Subsequently, the output control unit 53 controls the host vehicle withthe selected action (S9). More specifically, as described earlier, thecontrol MCUs 22 and 23 control the host vehicle with the selectedaction. For example, when the action is a “stop”, the control MCU 23controls the brake so that the host vehicle stops in conformance to theselection action. For example, when the action is a “detour”, thecontrol MCU 22 controls the steering system so that the host vehicleevades the factor in conformance to the selection action.

As described above, in the present first embodiment, a plurality ofpieces of data which indicate, in association with each other, a factorthat occurs with respect to a vehicle and control contents of thevehicle to be performed with respect to the factor are stored in thenon-volatile storage means 30. In addition, the volatile storage means13 enables access at a higher speed than the non-volatile storage means30 but stores a smaller number of pieces of data than the non-volatilestorage means 30. The situation estimating unit 51 estimates a factorand a required time until encountering the factor based on observationresults of a periphery of the vehicle. Based on the estimated factor andthe data, the action acquiring unit 52 and the output control unit 53cooperate to decide control contents of the vehicle.

At this point, the action acquiring unit 52 and the output control unit53 decide the control contents of the vehicle based on data stored inthe non-volatile storage means 30 when the estimated required time islonger than a threshold t1 and decide the control contents of thevehicle based on data stored in the volatile storage means 13 when theestimated required time is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1.

Accordingly, when the required time until encountering the factor islong, the action is selected based on data stored in the non-volatilestorage means 30. On the other hand, when the required time untilencountering the factor is short and there is not sufficient time, theaction is selected from the volatile storage means 13 that enablesaccess at a higher speed than the non-volatile storage means 30.Therefore, the vehicle can be controlled with less delay in accordancewith a factor that has occurred with respect to the vehicle.

For example, let us assume that all of the plurality of pieces of datashown in FIG. 3 are stored in the non-volatile storage means 30 and thatdata with “IDs” of “1”, “2”, “4”, “5”, “10”, and “13” among theplurality of pieces of data shown in FIG. 3 are stored in the volatilestorage means 13. Let us also assume that a host vehicle is in asituation where the host vehicle is to reach a “pedestrian” in “4seconds” and the threshold t1 is set to “5 seconds”. In this case, sincean estimated time is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1, actioncharacteristic information is selected from data stored in the volatilestorage means 13. As a result, action characteristic information of datawhich includes a “pedestrian” as a “factor” and a “time until facingsituation” that is equal to or shorter than the estimated time of “4seconds” and which has a highest “priority” of “10” is selected. Inother words, control of the host vehicle is performed in conformance toa “stop (sudden)” that is indicated by the “action” of the data with the“ID” of “1”.

In this manner, when selecting action characteristic information fromthe non-volatile storage means 30 results in taking “5 seconds” that islonger than “4 seconds” which is the time required by the host vehicleto reach the “pedestrian”, action characteristic information can beselected from data stored in the volatile storage means 13 that enablesaccess at a higher speed than the non-volatile storage means 30 and aquick response may be made. Furthermore, in the present firstembodiment, an action with a “time until facing situation” that is equalto or shorter than the estimated time is selected. Therefore, asdescribed above, the host vehicle can be stopped before a lapse of “3seconds” that is shorter than “4 seconds” required by the host vehicleto reach the “pedestrian”. In other words, the host vehicle can becontrolled with an inclination toward a safer side.

In addition, in the present first embodiment, action characteristicinformation of data with a highest “priority” is selected among datawith a “time until facing situation” that is equal to or shorter thanthe estimated time. Therefore, even when selecting the actioncharacteristic information from the volatile storage means 13 with alimited number of pieces of data, an effective action can be selected.For example, as in the case of the example described above, while thefactor can actually be accommodated by an action represented by the datawith an “ID” of “4”, even when the data is not stored in the volatilestorage means 13, the factor can be evaded by adopting an actionrepresented by the data with an “ID” of “1” which is even moreeffective. In this manner, by selecting action characteristicinformation included in data with a higher “priority”, the host vehiclecan be controlled with an inclination toward a safer side.

First Modification of First Embodiment

In the example described last, when the estimated time until facing thesituation is “6 seconds” instead of “4 seconds”, action characteristicinformation can be selected from all of the data stored in thenon-volatile storage means 30. However, even in this case, actioncharacteristic information included in the data with an “ID” of “1” isto be selected as action characteristic information included in datawith a “time until facing situation” that is equal to or shorter thanthe estimated time and which has a highest “priority”. In other words,even though the time that it actually takes to reach an origin of thefactor is the estimated time “6 seconds” and data that is closer theretoexist (data with a “time until facing situation” of “5 seconds”), theaction characteristic information included in the data with a “timeuntil facing situation” is “3 seconds” ends up being selected.

In consideration thereof, as a first modification, in order to acquireaction characteristic information that is more appropriate, actioncharacteristic information included in data with a “time until facingsituation” within a range of time that is shorter by a prescribed timethan the estimated time may be selected instead of selecting actioncharacteristic information included in data with a “time until facingsituation” that is equal to or shorter than the estimated time as thecriteria in steps S5 and S6.

For example, let us assume that the prescribed time is “2 seconds”. Inthis case, in the example described above, action characteristicinformation included in the data with an “ID” of “2” is selected asaction characteristic information included in data with a highest“priority” of “10” among data with a “time until facing situation” thatis within a range from “6 seconds” that is the estimated time untilfacing the situation to “4 seconds” that is 2 seconds shorter than “6seconds” from the data stored in the non-volatile storage means 30.

Accordingly, in conformance to “6 seconds” that is the time required bythe host vehicle to reach the “pedestrian”, the host vehicle can bestopped in “5 seconds” instead of in “3 seconds”. In other words, in theexample described in the first embodiment, the factor can be evaded by anormal stopping operation without having to perform an emergencystopping operation. In this manner, according to the first modification,since a host vehicle can be controlled to evade a factor by using uptime that is closer to a time required by the host vehicle to reach anorigin of the factor, there is less divergence from an actual situationand control of the host vehicle can be performed without giving a drivera sense of discomfort.

Second Modification of First Embodiment

In the example described in the first modification, actioncharacteristic information included in the data with an “ID” of “2” isto be selected as action characteristic information included in datawith a highest “priority” among data with a “time until facingsituation” that is within a range from the estimated time to a time thatis shorter than the estimated time by a prescribed time. In this case,for example, when the “pedestrian” is actually not traveling, actioncharacteristic information included in data with an “ID” of “6” or “7”which assumes that the “pedestrian” is not traveling is favorablyselected. However, even in this case, in the example described so far,action characteristic information included in the data with an “ID” of“2” is selected and control that is excessively inclined toward a sideof safety is performed.

In consideration thereof, as a second modification, in order to acquireaction characteristic information that is more appropriate, actioncharacteristic information included in data with a “priority” that iscloser to a priority estimated based on a recognized state may beselected instead of selecting action characteristic information includedin data with a highest “priority” as the criteria in steps S5 and S6.Hereinafter, the estimated priority will also be referred to as an“estimated priority”. Moreover, calculation of an estimated priority maybe performed by the situation estimating unit 51 based on a staterecognized by the state recognizing unit 50 and according to the samecalculation criteria as the “priority” in data to be stored in thenon-volatile storage means 30. Therefore, for example, when the“pedestrian” is not traveling, “6” is to be calculated as an estimatedpriority. In addition, the output control unit 53 selects actioncharacteristic information based on the estimated priority calculated bythe situation estimating unit 51.

More specifically, the determination MCU 21 calculates an estimatedpriority based on recognition result information received from therecognition MCU 20. The determination MCU 21 transmits estimatedpriority information indicating the calculated estimated priority to thecontrol MCUs 22 and 23. The control MCUs 22 and 23 select actioncharacteristic information included in data indicating a “priority” thatis closer to the estimated priority indicated by the estimated priorityinformation received from the determination MCU 21.

Accordingly, in the example described in the first modification, actioncharacteristic information included in the data with an “ID” of “6” or“7” is selected as action characteristic information included in datawith a “priority” that is closer to the estimated priority of “6” amongdata with a “time until facing situation” that is within a range from “6seconds” to “4 seconds” from the data stored in the non-volatile storagemeans 30.

In this manner, when a “pedestrian” is not traveling, by having the hostvehicle evade the “pedestrian” by making a “detour” instead of stoppingbefore reaching the “pedestrian”, travel of the host vehicle can becontinued while guaranteeing safety. In other words, as described above,while the host vehicle can be controlled with an inclination toward asafer side by selecting action characteristic information included indata with a higher “priority”, the selection may sometimes be excessive.By comparison, according to the second modification, since the hostvehicle can be controlled in control contents corresponding to an actualsituation, control can be performed without giving a driver a sense ofdiscomfort due to a divergence from the actual situation.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment will be described. Since a configuration ofthe vehicle-mounted control system 1, a configuration of the vehiclecontrol system 2, and functional blocks of the vehicle control system 2according to the present second embodiment are similar to those of thefirst embodiment, a description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, adescription will be given while omitting contents similar to the firstembodiment as appropriate.

The vehicle-mounted control system 1 according to the present secondembodiment differs from the vehicle-mounted control system according tothe first embodiment in that the vehicle-mounted control system 1according to the present second embodiment manages a frequency ofselection of an action with respect to each of a plurality of pieces ofdata stored in the volatile storage means 13. In addition, whenreplacing data stored in the volatile storage means 13, thevehicle-mounted control system 1 according to the present secondembodiment preferentially selects data with a low selection frequency asa replacement target.

In other words, in the present second embodiment, when the outputcontrol unit 53 selects action characteristic information forcontrolling the host vehicle from data acquired from the volatilestorage means 13, the output control unit 53 instructs the situationestimating unit 51 to update a frequency of data including the actioncharacteristic information. In addition, the situation estimating unit51 updates the frequency of the data instructed by the output controlunit 53.

Furthermore, when action characteristic information for controlling thehost vehicle is selected from data acquired from the non-volatilestorage means 30 and a plurality of pieces of data stored in thevolatile storage means 13 are replaced, action acquiring unit 52preferentially selects data with a low selection frequency as areplacement target.

In this case, frequency of data is made recognizable by storingfrequency information indicating a selection frequency of data in thevolatile storage means 13 in association with each piece of data. Thefrequency information may be information of any format as long as theinformation represents a selection frequency of data. Typically, forexample, frequency information is information indicating the number oftimes the data has been selected.

Next, an operation of the vehicle control system 2 according to thepresent second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 6.Moreover, in FIG. 6, an operation block that performs a similaroperation to an operation block in an operation of the vehicle controlsystem 2 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 5 will bedenoted using the same reference character and a description thereofwill be omitted.

The operation shown in FIG. 6 differs from the operation shown in FIG. 5in that the operation shown in FIG. 6 includes step S10 as a processfollowing step S5. The operation shown in FIG. 6 also differs from theoperation shown in FIG. 5 in that the operation shown in FIG. 6 includesstep S11 in place of step S8.

After selection of an action from the volatile storage means 13 (S5),the output control unit 53 instructs the situation estimating unit 51 toupdate a frequency q1 of data including action characteristicinformation indicating the action. In addition, the situation estimatingunit 51 updates the frequency of the data instructed by the outputcontrol unit 53.

More specifically, the control MCUs 22 and 23 transmit instructioninformation for instructing data including action characteristicinformation indicating the selected action to be updated to thedetermination MCU 21. The instruction information includes informationidentifying data to be an update object. Information that identifiesdata may be arbitrary information as long as data can be identified. Forexample, information that identifies data may be the “ID” describedearlier.

In accordance with the instruction information from the control MCUs 22and 23, the determination MCU 21 updates frequency informationcorresponding to the data for which an update has been instructed amonga plurality of pieces of data stored in the volatile storage means 13 soas to indicate a higher frequency (S10). For example, when the frequencyinformation indicates the number of times the data has been selected,the number of selections is increased by 1.

In addition, an action is selected from the non-volatile storage means30 (S6), and when it is determined that the “time until facingsituation” is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1 (yes in S7), theoutput control unit 53 instructs the action acquiring unit 52 to performreplacement with the data including action characteristic informationindicating the selected action. The action acquiring unit 52 replacesdata with a lowest frequency among the plurality of pieces of datastored in the volatile storage means 13 with the data including theaction characteristic information selected by the output control unit 53(S11).

More specifically, the control MCUs 22 and 23 transmit data includingaction characteristic information indicating the selected action to thedetermination MCU 21. The determination MCU 21 replaces datacorresponding to frequency information indicating a lowest frequencywith data transmitted from the control MCUs 22 and 23. At this point,favorably, as described in the first embodiment, the determination MCU21 decides data to be a replacement target so that at least data with ashortest “time until facing situation” is retained for each “factor”.Specifically, favorably, at least data corresponding to frequencyinformation indicating a lowest frequency among data other than the datawith a shortest “time until facing situation” is set as a replacementtarget for each “factor”. However, as described in the first embodiment,this is not restrictive. In other words, as long as data correspondingto frequency information that indicates a lower frequency is to bepreferentially set as a replacement target, various modifications can bemade.

As described above, in the present second embodiment, when controlcontents of a vehicle are decided based on data stored in thenon-volatile storage means 30, the action acquiring unit 52 and theoutput control unit 53 update frequency information corresponding to thedata indicating the decided control contents so as to indicate a higherfrequency. In addition, the action acquiring unit 52 replaces datacorresponding to frequency information that indicates a lower frequencywith the preferentially decided data indicating the decided controlcontents of the vehicle.

Accordingly, a probability of data with a high selection frequency beingstored in the volatile storage means 13 increases and the volatilestorage means 13 with limited capacity can be effectively utilized.

Third Embodiment

Next, a third embodiment will be described. Since a configuration of thevehicle-mounted control system 1 and a configuration of the vehiclecontrol system 2 according to the present third embodiment are similarto those of the second embodiment, a description thereof will beomitted. Hereinafter, a description will be given while omittingcontents similar to the second embodiment as appropriate.

The vehicle control system 2 according to the present third embodimentperforms learning based on contents of an operation by a driver when thevehicle control system 2 according to the second embodiment operates inthe manual control mode. Accordingly, an action of the host vehiclebased on the operation by the driver is fed back to data stored in thevolatile storage means 13 and the non-volatile storage means 30 tooptimize the data stored in the volatile storage means 13 and thenon-volatile storage means 30.

Next, an example of data stored in the volatile storage means 13 and thenon-volatile storage means 30 will be described with reference to FIG.7. As illustrated in FIG. 7, in the present third embodiment, the datastored in the volatile storage means 13 and the non-volatile storagemeans 30 further includes information indicating a “result” as comparedto data exemplified in the first embodiment with reference to FIG. 3.

A “result” is an evaluation value of an “action”. A “result” is updatedso that, the more an “action” is actually performed by a vehicle due toan operation by a driver, the higher the “result” is set relative toother data, and the less an “action” is actually performed by a vehicledue to an operation by a driver, the lower the “result” is set relativeto other data.

Next, functional blocks of the vehicle control system 2 according to thethird embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 8. As shown inFIG. 8, the vehicle control system 2 according to the third embodimentincludes a state recognizing unit 50, a situation estimating unit 51, anaction acquiring unit 52, an output control unit 53, a time measuringunit 54, an action selecting unit 55, an action comparing unit 56, andan action learning unit 57.

Since operations of the state recognizing unit 50, the situationestimating unit 51, and the action acquiring unit 52 according to thepresent third embodiment are similar to operations of the unitsaccording to the second embodiment with the exception of the situationestimating unit 51 further calculating an estimated priority based on astate recognized by the state recognizing unit 50, a description thereofwill be omitted.

The time measuring unit 54 measures a time from a point when a factor isrecognized (estimated) by the situation estimating unit 51 to a pointwhen a driver causes a host vehicle to perform an action to evade theestimated factor. Hereinafter, this time will also be referred to as a“reaction time”. The time measuring unit 54 notifies the action learningunit 57 of the measured reaction time. For example, the determinationMCU 21 functions as the time measuring unit 54.

The action selecting unit 55 selects optimal action characteristicinformation according to prescribed criteria from action characteristicinformation acquired as a result of retrieval by the action acquiringunit 52. However, unlike the output control unit 53 according to thefirst and second embodiments, the action selecting unit 55 does notperform control of the host vehicle based on the selected actioncharacteristic information. A method of selecting action characteristicinformation by the action selecting unit 55 is the same as the outputcontrol unit 53. For example, the control MCUs 22 and 23 function as theaction selecting unit 55.

The action comparing unit 56 compares control contents of the hostvehicle in an action performed based on an operation by the driver withcontrol contents of the host vehicle in an action indicated by theaction characteristic information selected by the action selecting unit55. In addition, the action comparing unit 56 notifies the actionlearning unit 57 of a comparison result. For example, the control MCUs22 and 23 function as the action comparing unit 56.

The action learning unit 57 performs learning of an action to be takenwith respect to an estimated factor based on the comparison result andthe reaction time notified from the action comparing unit 56. In otherwords, the action learning unit 57 newly generates or corrects learnedaction characteristic information and writes back the actioncharacteristic information to the non-volatile storage means 30.Accordingly, from an operation by the drive with respect to a givenestimated factor, an action to be taken with respect to the estimatedfactor is to be learned. For example, the determination MCU 21, thecontrol MCUs 22 and 23, the action information management server 40, andthe data server 41 function as the action learning unit 57.

Next, a learning method of the vehicle-mounted control system 1according to the present third embodiment will be described withreference to FIG. 9.

When a result indicating that the control contents are inconsistent isobtained as a comparison result by the action comparing unit 56, theaction learning unit 57 generates action characteristic informationindicating an action performed based on an operation by the driver andadds the action characteristic information to the non-volatile storagemeans 30. On the other hand, when a result indicating that the controlcontents are consistent is obtained as a comparison result by the actioncomparing unit 56, the action learning unit 57 corrects selected actioncharacteristic information based on an action performed based on anoperation by the driver.

(1) Addition of Action Characteristic Information

In this case, the action learning unit 57 is to add new data to thenon-volatile storage means 30. As the data, the action learning unit 57generates data including an estimated time calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 as a “time until facing situation”, an estimatedfactor calculated by the situation estimating unit 51 as a “factor”, anestimated priority calculated by the situation estimating unit 51 as a“priority”, and an action performed based on an operation by the driveras an “action”. In addition, an “ID” of the data may be set to anarbitrary non-overlapping value. Moreover, estimation of a priority maybe performed as described in the second modification of the firstembodiment.

Furthermore, in this case, since the selected action characteristicinformation is to indicate an action that differs from an action desiredby the driver, a certain penalty is to be imposed upon the actioncharacteristic information by lowering the priority, lowering a valuerepresenting the result, or performing both. In other words, the actionlearning unit 57 updates data including the action characteristicinformation so as to lower at least one of the “priority” and the“result”.

(2) Correction of Action Characteristic Information

In this case, the action learning unit 57 corrects data includingselected action characteristic information among a plurality of piecesof data stored in the non-volatile storage means 30. More specifically,as shown in FIG. 9, control contents of a host vehicle are defined inaction characteristic information (“action” in data), and a time(“control time” in FIG. 9) for performing control of the host vehiclebased on the control contents is defined in a “time until facingsituation”. In other words, this means that a time from a point when afactor is recognized to a point when control of the host vehicle isstarted (“reaction time” in FIG. 9) is defined in “action”, and a timefollowing a point when a period of performing the control of the hostvehicle by the control contents expires (“preliminary time” in FIG. 9)is also defined in a “time until facing situation”.

In this case, the reaction time in the “action” in the data is desirablydefined in conformance to a reaction time in a case where control isperformed by the driver actually operating the host vehicle.Accordingly, a sense of discomfort that is felt by the driver undercontrol in the automatic drive mode can be reduced.

Therefore, when correcting data, the action learning unit 57 correctsthe reaction time in the “action” to an actual reaction time that ismeasured by the time measuring unit 54. In other words, as shown in FIG.9, when the actually measured reaction time is longer than the reactiontime in the “action” in the data by a time t2, the action learning unit57 corrects the reaction time in the “action” in the data to a timeobtained by adding the time t2 thereto. Moreover, since a control timeremains unchanged, the preliminary time is to be corrected to a timeobtained by subtracting the time t2 therefrom.

Next, an operation of the vehicle control system 2 according to thepresent third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 10Aand 10B. Moreover, in FIGS. 10A and 10B, an operation block thatperforms a similar operation to an operation block in an operation ofthe vehicle control system 2 according to the second embodiment shown inFIG. 6 will be denoted using the same reference character and adescription thereof will be omitted.

The operation shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B differs from the operationshown in FIG. 6 in that the operation shown in FIGS. 10A and 10Bincludes step S12 in place of step S2. In addition, the operation shownin FIGS. 10A and 10B differs from the operation shown in FIG. 6 in thatthe operation shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B includes step S13. Furthermore,the operation shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B differs from the operationshown in FIG. 6 in that step S9 is not included as a process subsequentto step S10, no in step S7, and step S11, and steps S14 to S18 areincluded.

An operation in step S12 differs from the operation in step S2 in that,in step S12 according to the present third embodiment, an estimatedpriority is further calculated. In other words, based on a state whichthe host vehicle is in as recognized by the state recognizing unit 50,the situation estimating unit 51 estimates a factor occurring withrespect to the host vehicle, a time until the host vehicle faces asituation where the host vehicle reaches an origin of the factor, and apriority of the factor (S12). The factor, the time, and the prioritythat are estimated at this point are the estimated factor, the estimatedtime, and the estimated priority described earlier.

In addition, the vehicle-mounted control system 1 controls the hostvehicle based on an operation by the driver (S13). More specifically,the control MCUs 22 and 23 control the host vehicle based on anoperation by the driver.

The control MCU 22 controls the steering system 15 of the host vehiclebased on contents of an operation by the driver. For example, a handleoperation is detected by a steering angle sensor (not shown) that isprovided on a handle. The steering angle sensor detects a steering angleof the handle that is created as a result of a handle operation by thedriver and generates operation information indicating the detectedsteering angle. An operation MCU (not shown) included in thevehicle-mounted control system 1 transmits operation information that isgenerated by the steering angle sensor to the control MCU 22.Accordingly, the control MCU 22 controls the steering system 15 of thehost vehicle based on operation information received from the operationMCU.

In addition, the control MCU 22 controls the brake 16 of the hostvehicle based on a brake operation by the driver. For example, a brakeoperation is detected by a brake pedal position sensor (not shown) thatis provided on a brake pedal. The brake pedal position sensor detects adepression amount of the brake pedal due to the brake operation by thedriver and generates operation information indicating the detecteddepression amount. An operation MCU (not shown) included in thevehicle-mounted control system 1 transmits operation information that isgenerated by the brake pedal position sensor to the control MCU 23.Accordingly, the control MCU 23 controls the brake 16 of the hostvehicle based on operation information received from the operation MCU.

After selection of an action (S5 or S6) from the volatile storage means13 or the non-volatile storage means 30, the action comparing unit 56compares control contents of the host vehicle in an action performedbased on an operation by the driver with control contents of the hostvehicle in an action indicated by action characteristic informationselected by the action selecting unit 44 (S14).

More specifically, the control MCUs 22 and 23 compare control contentsof the host vehicle which is performed based on operation informationreceived from the operation MCU with control contents of the hostvehicle in an action indicated by the selected action characteristicinformation.

When the action comparing unit 56 determines that the control contentsare inconsistent (no in S15), the action learning unit 57 performslearning based on the action performed based on the operation by thedriver and the estimated factor, the estimated priority, and theestimated time calculated based on the recognized state (S16).

More specifically, when it is determined that the compared controlcontents are inconsistent, the control MCUs 22 and 23 transmitnotification information which notifies that the compared controlcontents are inconsistent to the determination MCU 21. The notificationinformation includes information indicating the action performed basedon the operation by the driver.

In accordance with the notification information from the control MCUs 22and 23, the determination MCU 21 transmits request information forrequesting addition of data to be performed to the action informationmanagement server 40 via the communication MCU 24. The requestinformation includes information indicating a “time until facingsituation”, a “factor”, a “priority”, and an “action” that are includedin data to be newly added. The “time until facing situation”, the“factor”, and the “priority” are, respectively, the estimated time, theestimated factor, and the estimated priority calculated by thedetermination MCU 21. In addition, the “action” is the action which isindicated by the notification information received from the control MCUs22 and 23 and which is performed based on an operation by the driver.

In response to the request information from the determination MCU 21 viathe communication MCU 24, the action information management server 40transmits instruction information for instructing addition of data tothe data server 41. The instruction information includes informationindicating the “time until facing situation”, the “factor”, the“priority”, and the “action” that are included in the requestinformation. The data server 41 generates new data and additionallystores the data in the non-volatile storage means 30 in accordance withthe instruction information from the action information managementserver 40. The “time until facing situation”, the “factor”, the“priority”, and the “action” in the data represent contents included inthe instruction information. In addition, as an “ID” of the data, thedata server 41 may decide a value that does not overlap with data storedin the non-volatile storage means 30.

Furthermore, the action learning unit 57 imposes a certain penalty uponthe selected action characteristic information by lowering a prioritythereof, lowering a value representing the result, or performing both.

More specifically, information that identifies the selected data isincluded in the notification information, the request information, andthe instruction information described above. In addition, in accordancewith the instruction information from the action information managementserver 40, the data server 41 updates data identified by the instructioninformation so as to impose the penalty described above. Moreover, whendata that is a target is stored in the volatile storage means 13, thedetermination MCU 21 may also update the data in a similar manner inaccordance with the notification information.

Accordingly, when a priority is to be lowered, since a “priority” ofdata indicating an action that is not performed by the driver among thedata is lowered, an “action” represented by the data is less likely tobe selected. As a result, a sense of discomfort that is felt by thedriver under control in the automatic drive mode can be reduced. Forexample, when an action of data with an “ID” of “5” is more frequentlyused than an action of data with an “ID” of “4” as shown in FIG. 7 in amanual drive mode, a “priority” of the data with an “ID” of “4” isadjusted to be lower than a “priority” of the data with an “ID” of “5”.Therefore, learning is performed so that the action of the data with an“ID” of “5” is preferentially selected over the action of the data withan “ID” of “4” in the automatic drive mode.

In addition, a value of a “result” is used to manage data. For example,when the value of a “result” is below a prescribed threshold, the dataserver 41 may delete the data from the non-volatile storage means 30.Accordingly, the probability of data that is not used by the driverbeing stored in the volatile storage means 13 and the non-volatilestorage means 30 can be reduced.

On the other hand, when the action comparing unit 56 determines that thecontrol contents are consistent (yes in S15), the action learning unit57 compares a reaction time in an action performed based on theoperation by the driver with a reaction time in an action indicated bythe action characteristic information selected by the action selectingunit 55 and calculates a time difference t2 between the reaction times(S17).

More specifically, when it is determined that the compared controlcontents are consistent, the control MCUs 22 and 23 transmitnotification information which notifies that the compared controlcontents are consistent to the determination MCU 21. The notificationinformation includes data of the selected action characteristicinformation.

In accordance with the notification information from the control MCUs 22and 23, the determination MCU 21 compares a reaction time in an actionperformed based on the operation by the driver with a reaction time inan action indicated by the selected action characteristic informationand calculates a time difference t2 between the reaction times. Thereaction time in an action indicated by the selected actioncharacteristic information is recognized from an action indicated byaction characteristic information in the data received from the controlMCUs 22 and 23. In addition, for the reaction time in an actionperformed based on the operation by the driver, a notification at apoint when an operation by the driver is started may be received fromthe control MCUs 22 and 23 and a time from a point when a factor isrecognized (estimated) to a point when the notification of a start ofthe operation by the driver is received may be adopted as the reactiontime.

The action learning unit 57 reflects the calculated time t2 in data inthe non-volatile storage means 30 (S18). More specifically, thedetermination MCU 21 transmits request information for requestingcorrection of data to the action information management server 40. Forexample, the request information includes target identificationinformation for identifying data that is a correction target and timedifference information indicating the calculated time difference t2. Asinformation identifying data that is a correction target, for example,an “ID” of data included in the notification information from thecontrol MCUs 22 and 23 may be used.

The action information management server 40 transmits instructioninformation for instructing correction of data to the data server 41 inaccordance with the request information from the determination MCU 21.The instruction information includes the target identificationinformation and the time difference information included in the requestinformation. In accordance with the instruction information from theaction information management server 40, the data server 41 correctsdata that is the correction target in the non-volatile storage means 30.In other words, correction is performed so that a reaction time in an“action” in the data that is the correction target equals a reactiontime in an action that is actually performed based on the timedifference t2 indicated in the instruction information. Moreover, thedata that is the correction target is identified based on the targetidentification information included in the instruction information. Inaddition, when data that is a target is stored in the volatile storagemeans 13, the determination MCU 21 may also correct the data in asimilar manner.

As described above, in the present third embodiment, the actioncomparing unit 56 compares decided control contents of a vehicle withcontrol contents of the vehicle based on an operation performed by adriver with respect to a factor. In addition, when the compared controlcontents are not consistent, the action learning unit 57 additionallystores data indicating the factor and control contents of the vehiclebased on an operation performed by the driver with respect to the factorin association with each other in the non-volatile storage means 30.Furthermore, in the present third embodiment, when the compared controlcontents are consistent, the action learning unit 57 corrects a reactiontime in data indicating decided control contents of the vehicle so as toapproach a measured reaction time.

Accordingly, since control contents of the vehicle in an actionperformed in the automatic control mode, a time until a start of theaction, and the like can be approximated to those when the driveractually performs driving, a sense of discomfort that is felt by thedrive can be reduced.

Fourth Embodiment

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. Since a configuration ofthe vehicle-mounted control system 1 and a configuration of the vehiclecontrol system 2 according to the present fourth embodiment are similarto those of the third embodiment, a description thereof will be omitted.Hereinafter, a description will be given while omitting contents similarto the third embodiment as appropriate.

Compared to the vehicle control system 2 according to the thirdembodiment, the vehicle control system 2 according to the present fourthembodiment performs learning based on contents of an operation by adriver when operating in the automatic control mode instead of in themanual control mode. In other words, in the present fourth embodiment,instead of performing an operation in order to actually control a hostvehicle, the driver performs an operation in order to teach how the hostvehicle would be controlled if the host vehicle was to be controlled bythe driver.

Next, functional blocks of the vehicle control system 2 according to thefourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 11. As shownin FIG. 11, the vehicle control system 2 according to the fourthembodiment includes a state recognizing unit 50, a situation estimatingunit 51, an action acquiring unit 52, an output control unit 53, a timemeasuring unit 54, an action comparing unit 56, and an action learningunit 57.

Since operations of the state recognizing unit 50, the situationestimating unit 51, the action acquiring unit 52, the time measuringunit 54, the action comparing unit 56, and the action learning unit 57according to the present fourth embodiment are similar to operations ofthe units according to the third embodiment with the exception of theaction comparing unit 56 setting control contents of a host vehicle inan action to be performed based on an operation by a driver as acomparison target instead of control contents of the host vehicle in anaction that has actually been performed based an operation by a driver,a description thereof will be omitted. In addition, since an operationof the output control unit 53 according to the present fourth embodimentis similar to the operation of the output control unit 53 according tothe third embodiment, a description thereof will be omitted.

Next, an operation of the vehicle control system 2 according to thepresent fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 12and 13. Moreover, in FIGS. 12 and 13, an operation block that performs asimilar operation to an operation block in an operation of the vehiclecontrol system 2 according to the second embodiment shown in FIG. 6 oran operation block in an operation of the vehicle control system 2according to the third embodiment shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B will bedenoted using the same reference character and a description thereofwill be omitted.

The operation shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 differs from the operation shownin FIGS. 10A and 10B in that the operation shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 doesnot include step S13. The operation shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 differsfrom the operation shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B in that step S9 is furtherincluded as a process subsequent to step S10, no in step S7, and stepS11, and steps S14 to S18 are included as steps subsequent thereto.

Furthermore, in the present fourth embodiment, in step S14, the actioncomparing unit 56 sets control contents of a host vehicle in an actionto be performed based on an operation by a driver as a comparison targetinstead of control contents of the host vehicle in an action that hasactually been performed based an operation by a driver.

As described above, learning based on contents of an operation by thedriver can also be performed in the automatic control mode. Accordingly,in a similar manner to the third embodiment, since control contents ofthe vehicle in an action performed in the automatic control mode, a timeuntil a start of the action, and the like can be approximated to thosewhen the driver actually performs driving, a sense of discomfort that isfelt by the drive can be reduced.

Fifth Embodiment

Next, a fifth embodiment will be described. Hereinafter, a descriptionwill be given while omitting contents similar to the fourth embodimentas appropriate. A configuration of a vehicle control system 2 accordingto the present fifth embodiment will now be described with reference toFIG. 14.

The vehicle control system 2 according to the present fifth embodimentdiffers from the vehicle control system 2 according to the fourthembodiment in that the vehicle-mounted control system 1 further includesnon-volatile storage means 17 and a storage MCU 25 and that the datamanagement system 3 further includes non-volatile storage means 32 and adata server 43.

The non-volatile storage means 17 stores a plurality of pieces of actioncharacteristic information. The non-volatile storage means 17 is capableof retaining information regardless of whether power is being suppliedor not. For example, the non-volatile storage means 17 is configured soas to include at least one non-volatile memory or at least one harddisk, or a combination thereof.

The storage MCU 25 controls writing of information to the non-volatilestorage means 17 and reading of information from the non-volatilestorage means 17.

The data server 43 functions in a similar manner to the data server 41.In addition, the non-volatile storage means 32 also functions in asimilar manner to the non-volatile storage means 30. In other words, thedata server 43 includes the non-volatile storage means 32. In this case,the data server 43 differs from the data server 41 in that the dataserver 43 manages action characteristic information with respect to eachdriver. In other words, while the non-volatile storage means 30 stores aplurality of pieces of action characteristic information with respect toa vehicle, the non-volatile storage means 32 stores a plurality ofpieces of action characteristic information with respect to a pluralityof drivers. Therefore, as will be described later, the data server 43provides the vehicle-mounted control system 1 with action characteristicinformation corresponding to an authenticated driver among the actioncharacteristic information stored in the non-volatile storage means 32.

Compared to the non-volatile storage means 30 and the non-volatilestorage means 32, the volatile storage means 13 and the non-volatilestorage means 17 enable data to be accessed from the ECU 10 at a higherspeed but the number of pieces of data that can be retained is smaller.On the other hand, compared to the volatile storage means 13 and thenon-volatile storage means 17, data in the non-volatile storage means 30and the non-volatile storage means 32 can only be accessed by the ECU 10at a lower speed but the non-volatile storage means 30 and thenon-volatile storage means 32 are capable of retaining a greater numberof pieces of data. In other words, capacities of the volatile storagemeans 13 and the non-volatile storage means 17 are too small to storeall of the data that is stored in the non-volatile storage means 30 andthe non-volatile storage means 32.

As shown in FIG. 15, generally, several pieces of data among theplurality of pieces of data stored in the non-volatile storage means 32are stored in the volatile storage means 13. Moreover, data in thenon-volatile storage means 30 may sometimes be stored in the volatilestorage means 13. In addition, as shown in FIG. 15, several pieces ofdata among the plurality of pieces of data stored in the non-volatilestorage means 32 are selectively stored in the non-volatile storagemeans 17. In other words, data stored in the non-volatile storage means32 is not stored in the non-volatile storage means 17. A reason thereforwill be described later.

Next, functional blocks of the vehicle control system 2 according to thefifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 16. As shownin FIG. 16, the vehicle control system 2 according to the fifthembodiment includes a state recognizing unit 50, a situation estimatingunit 51, an action acquiring unit 52, an output control unit 53, a timemeasuring unit 54, an action comparing unit 56, an action learning unit57, and a driver authenticating unit 58.

While the state recognizing unit 50, the situation estimating unit 51,the action acquiring unit 52, the output control unit 53, the timemeasuring unit 54, the action comparing unit 56, and the action learningunit 57 operate in a similar manner to the units according to the fourthembodiment but differ in the following points.

While the action acquiring unit 52 acquires action characteristicinformation in a similar manner to the action acquiring unit 52according to the fourth embodiment, the action acquiring unit 52 changesan acquisition source depending on an authentication status of a driverby the driver authenticating unit 58. When a driver is authenticated bythe driver authenticating unit 58, the action acquiring unit 52 sets allof the volatile storage means 13 and the non-volatile storage means 17,30, and 32 as objects of retrieval of action characteristic information.On the other hand, when a driver is not authenticated by the driverauthenticating unit 58, while the volatile storage means 13 and thenon-volatile storage means 30 which store action characteristicinformation of the driver are not considered objects of retrieval ofaction characteristic information, the non-volatile storage means 17 and32 which store action characteristic information of a vehicle are set asobjects of retrieval of action characteristic information.

Furthermore, when an estimated time calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 is equal to or shorter than a threshold t1, theaction acquiring unit 52 sets the volatile storage means 13 and thenon-volatile storage means 17 which are located inside a vehicle asobjects of retrieval of action characteristic information. On the otherhand, when an estimated time calculated by the situation estimating unit51 longer than the threshold t1, the action acquiring unit 52 sets thenon-volatile storage means 30 and 32 which are located outside of avehicle as objects of retrieval of action characteristic information.For example, the determination MCU 21, the control MCUs 22 and 23, theaction information management server 40, and the data servers 41 and 43function as the action acquiring unit 52.

Therefore, objects of retrieval corresponding to an authenticationstatus and a time until facing a situation may summarized as follows.

(1) Driver is authenticated and estimated time is longer than thethreshold t1

Non-volatile storage means 30 and 32

(2) Driver is authenticated and estimated time is equal to or shorterthan the threshold t1

Volatile storage means 13 and non-volatile storage means 17

(3) Driver is not authenticated and estimated time is longer than thethreshold t1

Non-volatile storage means 30

(4) Driver is not authenticated and estimated time is equal to orshorter than the threshold t1

Non-volatile storage means 17

Although the action learning unit 57 performs learning in a similarmanner to the action learning unit 57 according to the fourthembodiment, the action learning unit 57 changes a reflection destinationof learned action characteristic information depending on whether actioncharacteristic information is to be added or corrected. When actioncharacteristic information is to be added, the action learning unit 57reflects learned action characteristic information in both thenon-volatile storage means 30 and the non-volatile storage means 32. Onthe other hand, when the action characteristic information is to becorrected, the action learning unit 57 reflects learned actioncharacteristic information only on the non-volatile storage means 32storing action characteristic information of a driver and does notreflect learned action characteristic information on the non-volatilestorage means 32 storing action characteristic information of a vehicle.

When correcting action characteristic information, as described withreference to FIG. 9, a reaction time in an action indicated by theaction characteristic information is corrected according to an actualoperation by the driver. In other words, since habits of the driver arereflected, it is not favorable to have learning results reflected onaction characteristic information of a vehicle that is shared with otherdrivers. Therefore, when correcting action characteristic information, areflection destination of learning is limited to the non-volatilestorage means 32 storing action characteristic information of drivers.On the other hand, addition of action characteristic information doesnot affect existing action characteristic information. Therefore, inthis case, action characteristic information is reflected on both thenon-volatile storage means 30 and the non-volatile storage means 32.

The driver authenticating unit 58 authenticates a driver in response toinput of authentication information by the driver via an input device(not shown). For example, the authentication information includes adriver ID and a password. When authentication information input by adriver matches an expected value, the driver authenticating unit 58assumes the driver to be authenticated. On the other hand, whenauthentication information input by a driver does not match an expectedvalue, the driver authenticating unit 58 leaves the driverunauthenticated. Moreover, an arbitrary device may be used as the inputdevice. For example, a touch panel or operation buttons may be used asthe input device. For example, the determination MCU 21 functions as thedriver authenticating unit 58.

Next, an operation of the vehicle control system 2 according to thepresent fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 17A,17B and 18. Moreover, in FIGS. 17A, 17B and 18, an operation block thatperforms a similar operation to an operation block in an operation ofthe vehicle control system 2 according to the fourth embodiment shown inFIG. 12 will be denoted using the same reference character and adescription thereof will be omitted.

The operation shown in FIGS. 17A, 17B and 18 differs from the operationshown in FIG. 12 in that the operation shown in FIGS. 17A, 17B and 18further includes step S19. In addition, the operation shown in FIGS.17A, 17B and 18 also differs from the operation shown in FIG. 12 in thatthe operation shown in FIGS. 17A, 17B and 18 includes steps S20 to S22in place of step S3 following step S12. Furthermore, the operation shownin FIGS. 17A, 17B and 18 differs from the operation shown in FIG. 12 inthat the operation shown in FIGS. 17A, 17B and 18 includes steps S23 toS27 in place of respective steps S5, S6, S11, S16, and S18.

In a similar manner to the description with reference to the firstembodiment, the vehicle-mounted control system 1 according to thepresent fifth embodiment also selectively acquires several pieces ofdata among pluralities of pieces of data respectively stored in thenon-volatile storage means 30 and the non-volatile storage means 32 fromthe data management system 3 and stores the acquired data in thevolatile storage means 13 and the non-volatile storage means 17 inadvance.

The action acquiring unit 52 acquires data to be stored in thenon-volatile storage means 17 in an initial state from the non-volatilestorage means 30 when ignition power supply of the host vehicle isswitched on and power is supplied to the ECU 10 to make the ECU 10operable. The action acquiring unit 52 stores the acquired data in thenon-volatile storage means 17.

More specifically, when ignition power supply of the host vehicle isswitched on and power is supplied to the ECU 10 to make the ECU 10operable, the determination MCU 21 transmits request information forrequesting transmission of data to be stored in the non-volatile storagemeans 17 in an initial state to the action information management server40. In response to the request information from the determination MCU21, the action information management server 40 transmits instructioninformation for instructing acquisition of data to be stored in thenon-volatile storage means 17 in an initial state to the data server 41.

In accordance with the instruction information from the actioninformation management server 40, the data server 41 acquires data to bestored in the non-volatile storage means 17 in an initial state from thenon-volatile storage means 30 and transmits the acquired data to theaction information management server 40. At this point, the data server41 acquires at least one piece of data for each “factor”. In addition,the data server 41 acquires as many pieces of data as can be stored inthe non-volatile storage means 17 in an ascending order of a “time untilfacing situation” that is included in the data. The action informationmanagement server 40 transmits the data received from the data server 41to the determination MCU 21. The determination MCU 21 stores the datareceived from the action information management server 40 in thenon-volatile storage means 17.

In addition, when authentication of a driver is performed by the driverauthenticating unit 58 and the driver becomes authenticated, the actionacquiring unit 52 acquires data to be stored in the volatile storagemeans 13 in an initial state from the non-volatile storage means 32. Theaction acquiring unit 52 stores the acquired data in the volatilestorage means 13. Moreover, driver authentication will be describedlater as step S19.

More specifically, when authentication of a driver is performed and thedriver becomes authenticated, the determination MCU 21 transmits requestinformation for requesting transmission of data to be stored in thevolatile storage means 13 in an initial state to the action informationmanagement server 40. In response to the request information from thedetermination MCU 21, the action information management server 40transmits instruction information for instructing acquisition of data tobe stored in the volatile storage means 13 in an initial state to thedata server 43.

In accordance with the instruction information from the actioninformation management server 40, the data server 43 acquires data to bestored in the volatile storage means 13 in an initial state among datacorresponding to the authenticated driver from the non-volatile storagemeans 32 and transmits the acquired data to the action informationmanagement server 40. At this point, the data server 43 acquires atleast one piece of data for each “factor”. In addition, the data server43 acquires as many pieces of data as can be stored in the volatilestorage means 13 in an ascending order of a “time until facingsituation” that is included in the data. The action informationmanagement server 40 transmits the data received from the data server 43to the determination MCU 21. The determination MCU 21 stores the datareceived from the action information management server 40 in thevolatile storage means 13.

When authentication information is input by the driver via an inputdevice, the driver authenticating unit 58 authenticates the driver basedon the input authentication information (S19). More specifically, aninput MCU (not shown) included in the vehicle-mounted control system 1transmits the authentication information input to the input device tothe determination MCU 21. The determination MCU 21 authenticates thedriver based on authentication information input from the input MCU.When the authentication information matches the expected value, thedetermination MCU 21 sets a status that is recognized with respect tothe driver to “authenticated”. On the other hand, when theauthentication information does not match the expected value, thedetermination MCU 21 maintains “unauthenticated” as the status that isrecognized with respect to the driver. Moreover, the authentication ofthe driver may be performed by the action information management server40 or the data server 43 by having the determination MCU 21 transmitauthentication information to the action information management server40 or the data server 43. In addition, an authentication result may bemade recognizable by the determination MCU 21 by having the actioninformation management server 40 or the data server 43 transmitnotification information for notifying the authentication result to thedetermination MCU 21.

After estimation (S12) by the situation estimating unit 51, when thedriver is authenticated (yes in S20), the action acquiring unit 52starts retrieval of an action from all of the non-volatile storage means17, 30, and 32 and the volatile storage means 13 (S21). On the otherhand, when the driver is unauthenticated (no in S20), the actionacquiring unit 52 starts retrieval of an action from the non-volatilestorage means 17 and 30 which store action characteristic information ofa vehicle (S22).

More specifically, when performing retrieval of action characteristicinformation from the volatile storage means 13 and the non-volatilestorage means 17 inside the vehicle, the determination MCU 21 retrievesdata with a “factor” matching the estimated factor from the volatilestorage means 13 only when the driver is authenticated. Subsequently,the determination MCU 21 transmits the data acquired by the retrieval tothe control MCUs 22 and 23. In addition, regardless of whether or notthe driver is authenticated, the determination MCU 21 transmits requestinformation for requesting data with a “factor” matching the estimatedfactor to be retrieved to the storage MCU 25. In response to the requestinformation from the determination MCU 21, the storage MCU 25 retrievesdata instructed by the request information from the non-volatile storagemeans 17. The storage MCU 25 transmits the data acquired by theretrieval to the control MCUs 22 and 23.

On the other hand, when performing retrieval of action characteristicinformation from the non-volatile storage means 30 and 32 outside of thevehicle, request information is transmitted to the action informationmanagement server 40. At this point, when the driver is authenticated,the request information that is transmitted to the action informationmanagement server 40 includes information indicating that both thenon-volatile storage means 30 and the non-volatile storage means 32 areobjects of retrieval. On the other hand, when the driver isunauthenticated, the request information that is transmitted to theaction information management server 40 includes information indicatingthat only the non-volatile storage means 30 is an object of retrieval.

In response to request information from the determination MCU 21,instruction information for instructing the retrieval requested by therequest information is transmitted to a data server corresponding to thenon-volatile storage means specified in the request information amongthe data server 41 and the data server 43. Since subsequent operationsare similar to the operations described in the first embodiment, adescription thereof will be omitted. Accordingly, when the driver isauthenticated, data retrieved from the non-volatile storage means 30 and32 by the data server 41 and the data server 43 is transmitted to thecontrol MCUs 22 and 23. On the other hand, when the driver isunauthenticated, only data retrieved from the non-volatile storage means30 by the data server 41 is transmitted to the control MCUs 22 and 23.

When the estimated time calculated by the situation estimating unit 51is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1 (yes in S4), the actionacquiring unit 52 acquires action characteristic informationcorresponding to the estimated factor calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 from storage means inside the vehicle. The outputcontrol unit 53 selects an action which can be executed within a timeuntil facing a situation as estimated by the situation estimating unit51 and which has a highest priority e1 among actions indicated by theaction characteristic information acquired from the storage means insidethe vehicle by the action acquiring unit 52 (S23).

On the other hand, when the estimated time calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 is longer than the threshold t1 (no in S4), theaction acquiring unit 52 acquires action characteristic informationcorresponding to the estimated factor calculated by the situationestimating unit 51 from storage means outside of the vehicle. The outputcontrol unit 53 selects an action which can be executed within a timeuntil facing a situation as estimated by the situation estimating unit51 and which has a highest priority e1 among actions indicated by theaction characteristic information acquired from the storage meansoutside of the vehicle by the action acquiring unit 52 (S24).

More specifically, an operation is performed as follows when adopting amethod equivalent to the first method described in the first embodiment.When the estimated time is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1,the determination MCU 21 performs the retrieval from the volatilestorage means 13 and the transmission of request information to thestorage MCU 25 described above and does not perform the transmission ofrequest information to the action information management server 40described above. On the other hand, when the estimated time is longerthan the prescribed threshold t1, the determination MCU 21 does notperform the retrieval from the volatile storage means 13 and thetransmission of request information to the storage MCU 25 describedabove but performs the transmission of request information to the actioninformation management server 40 described above.

In addition, an operation is performed as follows when adopting a methodequivalent to the second method described in the first embodiment. Thedetermination MCU 21 performs the retrieval from the volatile storagemeans 13, the transmission of request information to the storage MCU 25,and the transmission of request information to the action informationmanagement server 40 as described above regardless of whether or not theestimated time is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1.Subsequently, when the estimated time is equal to or shorter than thethreshold t1, the control MCUs 22 and 23 do not acquire actioncharacteristic information included in the data received from the actioninformation management server 40 as a candidate for actioncharacteristic information to be selected and utilized to control thehost vehicle but acquire action characteristic information included inthe data received from the determination MCU 21 and the storage MCU 25as a candidate for action characteristic information to be selected andutilized to control the host vehicle. On the other hand, when theestimated time is longer than the threshold t1, the control MCUs 22 and23 do not acquire action characteristic information included in the datareceived from the determination MCU 21 and the storage MCU 25 as acandidate for action characteristic information to be selected andutilized to control the host vehicle but acquire action characteristicinformation included in the data received from the action informationmanagement server 40 as a candidate for action characteristicinformation to be selected and utilized to control the host vehicle.

An action is selected from the non-volatile storage means 30 and 32outside of the vehicle (S24), and when a “time until facing situation”indicated by data including action characteristic information indicatingthe selected action is equal to or shorter than the threshold t1 (yes inS7), the action acquiring unit 52 replaces data with a lowest frequencyamong the pluralities of pieces of data stored in the volatile storagemeans 13 and the non-volatile storage means 17 inside the vehicle withdata including the action characteristic information selected by theoutput control unit 53 (S25). At this point, when the data including theselected action characteristic information is data acquired from thenon-volatile storage means 30 which stores action characteristicinformation of the vehicle, the action acquiring unit 52 retrieves datawith a lowest frequency from both the volatile storage means 13 and thenon-volatile storage means 17. On the other hand, when the dataincluding the selected action characteristic information is dataacquired from the non-volatile storage means 32 which stores actioncharacteristic information of the driver, the action acquiring unit 52retrieves data with a lowest frequency from only the volatile storagemeans 13. As briefly mentioned earlier, a reason therefor will bedescribed later.

The operation in step S25 differs from step S8 according to the fourthembodiment in that not only data stored in the volatile storage means 13but data stored in the non-volatile storage means 17 are also consideredcandidates for replacement. More specifically, as described earlier, thedetermination MCU 21 replaces data corresponding to frequencyinformation indicating a lowest frequency among data stored in thevolatile storage means 13 and the non-volatile storage means 17 withdata transmitted from the control MCUs 22 and 23. Moreover, thedetermination MCU 21 may acquire frequency information stored in thenon-volatile storage means 17 via the storage MCU 25. In a similarmanner to the description given earlier, favorably, the determinationMCU 21 decides data to be a replacement target so that at least datawith a shortest “time until facing situation” is retained for each“factor”.

When the action comparing unit 56 determines that the control contentsare inconsistent (no in S15), the action learning unit 57 performslearning based on the action performed based on the operation by thedriver and the priority and the time until facing the situation asestimated based on the recognized state (S26).

The operation of step S26 differs from step S16 according to the fourthembodiment in that, as described earlier, new data is to be added toboth non-volatile storage means 30 and 32. More specifically, the actioninformation management server 40 transmits instruction information forinstructing addition of data to the data server 41 and the data server43 in accordance with the request information from the determination MCU21. Since other operations are similar to step S16, a descriptionthereof will be omitted.

When the action comparing unit 56 determines that the control contentsare consistent (yes in S15), the action learning unit 57 calculates atime difference t2 between reaction times (S17) and subsequentlyreflects the calculated time t2 onto data in the non-volatile storagemeans 32 (S26).

The operation of step S27 differs from step S18 according to the fourthembodiment in that, as described earlier, the calculated time t2 is onlyreflected in the non-volatile storage means 32 that stores actioncharacteristic information of the driver. More specifically, the actioninformation management server 40 transmits instruction information forinstructing correction of data only to the data server 43 in accordancewith the request information from the determination MCU 21.

As described above, in the present fifth embodiment, the non-volatilestorage means 30 stores data of a vehicle that is shared by a pluralityof drivers. The non-volatile storage means 17 can be accessed at ahigher speed than the non-volatile storage means 30 and selectivelystores data stored in the non-volatile storage means 30. Thenon-volatile storage means 32 stores data for each of a plurality ofdrivers. The volatile storage means 13 selectively stores data ofauthenticated drivers among the data stored in the non-volatile storagemeans 30.

In addition, when a required time until encountering an estimated factoris equal to or shorter than a threshold and when a driver isauthenticated, the situation estimating unit 51 and the output controlunit 53 decide control contents of a vehicle based on data stored in thenon-volatile storage means 17 and data of the authenticated driver thatis stored in the volatile storage means 13. Furthermore, when theestimated required time is equal to or shorter than a threshold and whena driver is unauthenticated, the situation estimating unit 51 and theoutput control unit 53 decide control contents of the vehicle based ondata stored in the non-volatile storage means 17. In addition, when arequired time until encountering an estimated factor is longer than athreshold and when a driver is authenticated, control contents of avehicle are decided based on data stored in the non-volatile storagemeans 30 and data of the authenticated driver that is stored in thenon-volatile storage means 32. Furthermore, when the estimated requiredtime is longer than a threshold and when a driver is unauthenticated,control contents of a vehicle are decided based on data stored in thenon-volatile storage means 30.

Accordingly, when the driver is not authenticated, control contents ofthe vehicle can be decided using only data of the vehicle. In addition,when the driver is authenticated, control contents of the vehicle can bedecided using both data of the vehicle and data of the driver. In otherwords, optimal control of a vehicle in accordance with a combination ofthe vehicle and a driver can be performed. For example, optimal controlof a vehicle can be performed even when the vehicle is driven byfrequently changing drivers such as a bus, a delivery track, and arental car.

Moreover, the data server 41 and the data server 43 can also be managedindependently. For example, the data server 43 that manages actioncharacteristic information of a driver can be managed by a deliveryservice operator, a bus operating company, or a rental car operatingcompany, and the data server 41 that manages action characteristicinformation of a vehicle can be managed by a vehicle manufacturer.

In addition, in the present fifth embodiment, among the storage means 13and 17 located inside a vehicle, volatile storage means is used as thestorage means 13 that stores action characteristic information of adriver and non-volatile storage means is used as the storage means 17that stores action characteristic information of a vehicle. Accordingly,even in a situation where the vehicle is unable to connect to a network,an action of the vehicle can be decided based on action characteristicinformation stored in the non-volatile storage means 17. In other words,when communication cannot be established with the data management system3, the action acquiring unit 52 (the determination MCU 21) may acquireaction characteristic information from the non-volatile storage means 17regardless of whether or not a driver is authenticated and regardless ofwhether or not an estimated time is equal to or shorter than thethreshold t1. In addition, as described above, action characteristicinformation stored in the non-volatile storage means 17 is solelyacquired from the non-volatile storage means 30 that stores actioncharacteristic information of a vehicle. Therefore, since actioncharacteristic information of a vehicle does not change according todrivers as is the case of action characteristic information of a driver,problems do not arise even if a driver is replaced in a situation wherethe vehicle is unable to connect to a network.

Sixth Embodiment

One embodiment extracted from the first to fifth embodiments describedabove will now be described as a sixth embodiment with reference to FIG.20. As shown in FIG. 20, a control system 100 according to the sixthembodiment includes a first storage unit 101, a second storage unit 102,an estimating unit 103, and a deciding unit 104.

The first storage unit 101 stores a plurality of pieces of data whichindicate, in association with each other, a factor that occurs withrespect to a vehicle and control contents of the vehicle to be performedwith respect to the factor. The second storage unit 102 enables accessat a higher speed than the first storage unit 101 but stores a smallernumber of pieces of data than the pieces of data stored in the firststorage unit 101.

The estimating unit 103 estimates a factor and a required time untilencountering the factor based on observation results of a periphery ofthe vehicle. The deciding unit 104 decides control contents of thevehicle based on the estimated factor and the data.

At this point, when the estimated required time is longer than athreshold, the deciding unit 104 decides control contents of the vehiclebased on data stored in the first storage unit 101. On the other hand,when the estimated required time is equal to or shorter than athreshold, the deciding unit 104 decides control contents of the vehiclebased on data stored in the second storage unit 102.

Accordingly, when the required time until encountering the factor islong, the action is selected based on data stored in the first storageunit 101. On the other hand, when the required time until encounteringthe factor is short and there is not sufficient time, the action isselected from the second storage unit 102 that enables access at ahigher speed than the first storage unit 101. Therefore, the vehicle canbe controlled with less delay in accordance with a factor that hasoccurred with respect to the vehicle.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been describedusing specific terms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the artthat the invention is not limited to the described embodiments and thatvarious changes and modifications may be made without departing from thespirit and the scope of the invention.

While examples in which the vehicle-mounted control system 1 includesonly one camera 11 are described in the first to fifth embodimentspresented above, the present invention is not limited thereto. Aconfiguration may be adopted in which the vehicle-mounted control system1 includes a plurality of cameras 11 and the recognition MCU 20recognizes a state in which a host vehicle is in based on imageinformation from the plurality of cameras 11. Accordingly, a recognitionrange may be expanded to a wider range instead of being limited to thefront of the host vehicle. The same description applies to the sensor12.

In addition, while examples in which the vehicle-mounted control system1 includes control MCUs that respectively control each unit (a steeringsystem, a brake, and the like) of an automobile so as to correspond toeach unit of the automobile are described in the first to fifthembodiments presented above, the present invention is not limitedthereto. In other words, one control MCU may be configured to control aplurality of control objects. For example, one control MCU, the steeringsystem, and the brake may be connected to one another via a bus to havethe control MCU control both the steering system and the brake.

Furthermore, in the third to fifth embodiments described above, a drivermay be notified of a comparison result of control contents of a vehicle.For example, in accordance with notification information notifying acomparison result from the control MCUs 22 and 23, the determination MCU21 may display an image representing the result on a display device (notshown) included in the vehicle-mounted control system 1. For example,the display device is a display panel such as a liquid crystal panel oran organic EL panel.

In addition, in the first to fifth embodiments presented above, when anestimated priority calculated based on a recognized state is low enoughthat data corresponding to the estimated priority does not exist, thedetermination MCU 21 may not perform retrieval of data. This is becausea low estimated priority means that a degree to which an origin of afactor must be evaded is also low. For example, the determination MCU 21may not perform retrieval of data when the estimated priority is equalto or lower than a prescribed threshold.

Furthermore, while an example in which the volatile storage means 13 andthe non-volatile storage means 17 are included as storage means inside avehicle is described in the fourth embodiment presented above, thepresent invention is not limited thereto. For example, thevehicle-mounted control system 1 may only include the volatile storagemeans 13. In this case, when a driver is unauthenticated, thedetermination MCU 21 may acquire data in an initial state from thenon-volatile storage means 30 that stores action characteristicinformation of a vehicle and store the data in the volatile storagemeans 13. Therefore, when an estimated time is equal to or shorter thanthe threshold t1, the determination MCU 21 is to always performretrieval of action characteristic information from the volatile storagemeans 13.

In addition, while examples in which the non-volatile storage means 30that only allows access at a low speed by the ECU 10 is located outsideof a vehicle (outside of the vehicle-mounted control system 1) aredescribed in the first to fifth embodiments presented above, the presentinvention is not limited thereto. For example, if there is a differencein data access speeds between the volatile storage means 13 and thenon-volatile storage means 30, both storage means may be located insidea vehicle.

For example, the vehicle-mounted control system 1 may be configured asshown in FIG. 20. The vehicle-mounted control system 1 shown in FIG. 20differs from the vehicle-mounted control system 1 shown in FIG. 2 inthat the vehicle-mounted control system 1 shown in FIG. 20 does notinclude the communication module 14 and the communication MCU 24 butfurther includes the storage MCU 25 and the non-volatile storage means30.

In this case, when an estimated time is longer than the threshold t1,the determination MCU 21 transmits, to the storage MCU 25, requestinformation for requesting data with a “factor” that is consistent withthe estimated factor to be retrieved. In response to the requestinformation, the storage MCU 25 retrieves data from the non-volatilestorage means 30 and transmits the data to the control MCUs 22 and 23.

While the invention has been described in terms of several embodiments,those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can bepracticed with various modifications within the spirit and scope of theappended claims and the invention is not limited to the examplesdescribed above.

Further, the scope of the claims is not limited by the embodimentsdescribed above.

Furthermore, it is noted that, Applicant's intent is to encompassequivalents of all claim elements, even if amended later duringprosecution.

The first to sixth embodiments can be combined as desirable by one ofordinary skill in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A control system comprising: a first storagememory that stores a plurality of pieces of data indicating, inassociation with each other, a factor that occurs with respect to avehicle and control contents of the vehicle to be performed with respectto the factor; a second storage memory that can be accessed at a higherspeed than the first storage memory; and a processor executing programinstructions and configured to provide: an estimating unit thatestimates the factor and a required time until encountering the factorbased on a result of an observation of a periphery of the vehicle; and adeciding unit that decides control contents of the vehicle based on theestimated factor and the data, to control the vehicle, wherein the firststorage memory stores data which a required time until encountering thefactor is longer than a threshold, wherein the second storage memorystores data which a required time until encountering the factor is equalto or shorter than the threshold, wherein when the estimated requiredtime is longer than the threshold, the deciding unit decides controlcontents of the vehicle based on data stored in the first storagememory, and wherein when the estimated required time is equal to orshorter than the threshold, the deciding unit decides control contentsof the vehicle based on data stored in the second storage memory.
 2. Thecontrol system according to claim 1, wherein the second storage memoryselectively stores data stored in the first storage memory, and when thedeciding unit decides control contents of the vehicle based on the datastored in the first storage memory, the deciding unit replaces any ofthe data stored in the second storage memory with data indicating thedecided control contents of the vehicle.
 3. The control system accordingto claim 2, wherein the data further indicates the required time assumedwith respect to the factor, in association with the factor and thecontrol contents of the vehicle, the data indicates contents that can beexecuted before the required time lapses, as the control contents of thevehicle, the second storage memory stores data indicating a requiredtime that is equal to or shorter than the threshold, and the decidingunit performs the replacement when data indicating the decided controlcontents of the vehicle indicates a required time that is equal to orshorter than the threshold.
 4. The control system according to claim 2,wherein the second storage memory stores, in association with the data,frequency information indicating a frequency at which control contentsof the vehicle indicated by the data have been selected, when thedeciding unit decides control contents of the vehicle based on the datastored in the second storage memory, the deciding unit updates frequencyinformation corresponding to the data indicating the decided controlcontents of the vehicle so as to indicate a higher frequency, and whenthe deciding unit decides control contents of the vehicle based on thedata stored in the first storage memory, the deciding unitpreferentially replaces data corresponding to frequency informationindicating a lower frequency.
 5. The control system according to claim1, wherein: the data further indicates a priority which is set toincrease as a degree by which the control contents of the vehicle evadesthe factor increases, in association with the factor and the controlcontents of the vehicle, and the deciding unit preferentially selectscontrol contents of the vehicle which correspond to a higher priority.6. The control system according to claim 2, further comprising: theprocessor configured to provide: a comparing unit that compares thedecided control contents of the vehicle and control contents of thevehicle based on an operation by a driver with respect to the factor;and a learning unit that additionally stores data indicating, inassociation with each other, the factor and the control contents of thevehicle based on the operation by the driver with respect to the factorin the first storage memory, when the compared control contents of thevehicle are not consistent.
 7. The control system according to claim 6,wherein: the data further indicates, in association with the factor andthe control contents of the vehicle, a priority of selecting the controlcontents of the vehicle, the deciding unit preferentially selectscontrol contents of the vehicle which correspond to a higher priority,and the learning unit updates a priority of data indicating the decidedcontrol contents of the vehicle so as to lower the priority when thecompared control contents of the vehicle are not consistent.
 8. Thecontrol system according to claim 6, wherein: the data furtherindicates, in association with the factor and the control contents ofthe vehicle, a result value regarding a result of a comparison betweenthe control contents of the vehicle and control contents of the vehiclebased on the operation by the driver, the learning unit updates a resultvalue in data indicating the decided control contents of the vehicle soas to lower the result value when the compared control contents of thevehicle are not consistent, and the learning unit deletes data with aresult value having fallen below a prescribed threshold from the firststorage memory.
 9. The control system according to claim 1, wherein: thedata further indicates, in association with the factor and the controlcontents of the vehicle, a reaction time from a point when the factor isestimated to a point when control according to the control contents ofthe vehicle is started, and the control system further comprises: theprocessor executing the program instructions and configured to provide:a comparing unit that compares the decided control contents of thevehicle and control contents of the vehicle based on an operation by adriver with respect to the factor; a measuring unit that measures thereaction time of the operation by the driver; and a learning unit thatcorrects the reaction time in the data indicating the decided controlcontents of the vehicle so that the reaction time approaches themeasured reaction time when the compared control contents of the vehicleare consistent.
 10. The control system according to claim 2, furthercomprising: wherein the processor is configured to provide anauthenticating unit that authenticates drivers; a third storage memorythat stores, for each of a plurality of drivers, a plurality of piecesof data which indicate the factor and control contents of the vehicle inassociation with each other; and a fourth storage memory that can beaccessed at a higher speed than the third storage memory, and thatselectively stores data stored in the third storage memory andcorresponding to a driver authenticated by the authenticating unit, thenumber of pieces of data selectively stored in the fourth storage memorybeing smaller than the number of pieces of data stored in the thirdstorage memory, wherein the data stored in the first storage memory andthe second storage memory is shared by the plurality of drivers, whenthe estimated required time is equal to or shorter than a threshold andwhen the driver is authenticated, the deciding unit decides controlcontents of the vehicle based on the data stored in the second storagememory and the data of the authenticated driver stored in the thirdstorage memory, when the estimated required time is equal to or shorterthan the threshold and when the driver is unauthenticated, the decidingunit decides control contents of the vehicle based on the data stored inthe second storage memory, when the estimated required time is longerthan the threshold and when the driver is authenticated, the decidingunit decides control contents of the vehicle based on the data stored inthe first storage memory and the data of the authenticated driver storedin the third storage memory, and when the estimated required time islonger than the threshold and when the driver is unauthenticated, thedeciding unit decides control contents of the vehicle based on the datastored in the first storage memory.
 11. The control system according toclaim 10, wherein the second storage memory is volatile, the firststorage memory, the third storage memory, and the fourth storage memoryare non-volatile, the control system comprises a first system that isprovided in the vehicle, and a second system that is connected to thefirst system via a network, the first system includes the second storagememory, the fourth storage memory t, the estimating unit, the decidingunit, and the authenticating unit, and the second system includes thefirst storage memory and the third storage memory.
 12. The controlsystem according to claim 10, wherein the data further indicates, inassociation with the factor and the control contents of the vehicle, areaction time from a point when the factor is estimated to a point whencontrol according to the control contents of the vehicle is started, thecontrol system further comprises: the processor executing the programinstructions and configured to provide: a comparing unit that comparesthe decided control contents and control contents of the vehicle basedon an operation by a driver with respect to the factor; a measuring unitthat measures the reaction time of the operation by the driver; and alearning unit that corrects a reaction time in data indicating thedecided control contents so that the reaction time approaches themeasured reaction time when the compared control contents areconsistent, and that additionally stores data indicating, in associationwith each other, the factor and control contents of the vehicle based onthe operation by the driver with respect to the factor in the firststorage memory and the third storage memory when the compared controlcontents of the vehicle are not consistent, and the learning unitcorrects the reaction time when the data indicating the decided controlcontents is the data stored in the first storage memory, and does notcorrect the reaction time when the data indicating the decided controlcontents is the data stored in the third storage memory.
 13. Asemiconductor device comprising: a processor executing programinstructions stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, andconfigured to provide: an estimating unit that estimates, based on aresult of an observation of a periphery of a vehicle, a factor whichoccurs with respect to the vehicle and a required time untilencountering the factor; and a presenting unit that acquires controlcontents based on the estimated factor from a first storage memory whichstores a plurality of pieces of data indicating, in association witheach other, the factor and control contents of the vehicle to beperformed with respect to the factor, and a second storage memory whichcan be accessed at a higher speed than the first storage memory, andthat presents the acquired control contents as a candidate of controlcontents of the vehicle to another semiconductor device that controlsthe vehicle, wherein the presenting unit: acquires the control contentsfrom the first storage memory and presents the acquired control contentsto the other semiconductor device when the estimated required time islonger than a threshold; and acquires the control contents from thesecond storage memory and presents the acquired control contents to theother semiconductor device when the estimated required time is equal toor shorter than the threshold, to control the vehicle, wherein the firststorage memory stores data which a required time until encountering thefactor is longer than the threshold, and wherein the second storagememory stores data which a required time until encountering the factoris equal to or shorter than the threshold.
 14. A semiconductor devicecomprising: a processor that acquires control contents based on a factorwhich occurs with respect to a vehicle and that decides control contentsof the vehicle, from a first storage memory which stores a plurality ofpieces of data indicating, in association with each other, a factor thatoccurs with respect to the vehicle and control contents of the vehicleto be performed with respect to the factor, and from a second storagememory which can be accessed at a higher speed than the first storagememory, wherein the processor: decides the control contents of thevehicle from the control contents acquired from the first storage memorywhen a required time until encountering the factor as acquired fromanother semiconductor device is longer than a threshold; and decides thecontrol contents of the vehicle from the control contents acquired fromthe second storage memory when the required time is equal to or shorterthan the threshold to control the vehicle, wherein the first storagememory stores data which a required time until encountering the factoris longer than the threshold, and wherein the second storage memorystores data which a required time until encountering the factor is equalto or shorter than the threshold.
 15. The control system according toclaim 1, wherein when the estimated required time is equal to or shorterthan the threshold, the deciding unit decides control contents of thevehicle based on the data that is written and stored only in the secondstorage memory.
 16. The control system according to claim 1, wherein thecontrol contents of the vehicle is decided based on data read from aselection of either the first storage memory or the second storagememory to avoid delay.
 17. The control system according to claim 1, whenthe estimated required time is longer than a threshold, the decidingunit decides control contents of the vehicle based on data stored in thefirst storage memory without accessing the second storage memory. 18.The semiconductor device according to claim 13, when the estimatedrequired time is equal to or shorter than the threshold, the presentingunit decides control contents of the vehicle based on data stored in thesecond storage memory without accessing the first storage memory. 19.The semiconductor device according to claim 14, when the estimatedrequired time is equal to or shorter than the threshold, the processordecides the control contents of the vehicle based on data stored in thesecond storage memory without accessing the first storage memory. 20.The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the processorcomprises an electronic control unit, wherein the second storage memorystores a smaller number of pieces of data than the number of pieces ofdata stored in the first storage memory, and wherein the deciding unitoutputs to the vehicle to control the vehicle.
 21. A method of asemiconductor device, the method comprising: storing in a first storagememory, a plurality of pieces of data indicating, in association witheach other, a factor that occurs with respect to a vehicle and controlcontents of the vehicle to be performed with respect to the factor,wherein a second storage memory can be accessed at a higher speed thanthe first storage memory; and estimating, by an estimating unit, thefactor and a required time until encountering the factor based on aresult of an observation of a periphery of the vehicle; and deciding, bya deciding unit, control contents of the vehicle based on the estimatedfactor and the data, to control the vehicle, wherein the first storagememory stores data which a required time until encountering the factoris longer than a threshold, wherein the second storage memory storesdata which a required time until encountering the factor is equal to orshorter than the threshold, wherein when the estimated required time islonger than the threshold, the deciding unit decides control contents ofthe vehicle based on data stored in the first storage memory, andwherein when the estimated required time is equal to or shorter than thethreshold, the deciding unit decides control contents of the vehiclebased on data stored in the second storage memory.
 22. The methodaccording to claim 21, wherein the second storage memory stores asmaller number of pieces of data than the number of pieces of datastored in the first storage memory, wherein the second storage memoryselectively stores data stored in the first storage memory, and whereinwhen the deciding unit decides control contents of the vehicle based onthe data stored in the first storage memory, the deciding unit replacesany of the data stored in the second storage memory with data indicatingthe decided control contents of the vehicle.
 23. A program productstored in a computer readable medium, including instructions executableby a processor according to the method according to claim 21, whereinthe processor comprises an electronic control unit, and wherein thedeciding unit outputs to control the vehicle.